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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29305863">Earth's Mightiest Mortals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSiegePerilous/pseuds/TheSiegePerilous'>TheSiegePerilous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Loud House (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:01:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,315</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29305863</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSiegePerilous/pseuds/TheSiegePerilous</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lincoln Loud has become responsible for safekeeping the power of Shazam. His first task: finding people who are worthy to wield it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leni Loud/Lincoln Loud, Lincoln Loud/Lucy Loud, Lincoln Loud/Luna Loud, Lincoln Loud/Lynn Loud Jr., Lincoln Loud/Sam Sharp, Luna Loud/Sam Sharp</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Electrifying</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Lynn Loud growled in irritation as she peered down into the schoolyard below. Her plan <em>had</em> been a simple one. Hang out on the school roof until Lincoln was done with classes. Then, just as he'd exited the building she'd leap off, dazzle him with her amazing Lynnosity (patent pending), and whisk him away to some happy, wholesome, sibling bonding time. <em>Unfortunately</em>, she'd apparently underestimated just how popular her little bro was.</p><p>In hindsight, she should have expected that he'd be accompanied by Stella and Girl Jordan. They were friends, and peers, and it was pretty hard to miss those looks they'd shoot Lincoln when they thought nobody was looking. And it suddenly occurred to Lynn that might be a problem she'd have to worry about eventually...</p><p><em>Maggie</em> showing up to engage her brother in awkward conversation was an unexpected, and unwanted surprise. Lynn couldn't recall having ever seen the two hang out, but Maggie's body language, particularly the way she kept leaning over and thrusting her chest out, made the raven haired girl's intentions plain as day. Good thing Lincoln was so dense when it came to girls.</p><p>Becky <em>and </em>Carol showing up out of the blue to chat up Lincoln was where Lynn drew the line. How did that even happen? <em>Neither of them went to this school!</em></p><p>"That's it." Lynn grumbled, fishing out her phone. "I'm nipping this in the bud."</p><p><em>"Rooftop. Now!</em>" She jabbed into her screen before sending the message off. Thankfully, the effect was nearly instantaneous. Lincoln checked his phone, apologized to his admirers in that adorably awkward manner of his, and excused himself, leaving the disappointed girls with little to do beyond disperse, much to her relief.</p><p>"Gotta talk to Lisa about booby trapping that kid." Lynn muttered to herself as she settled in, waiting for her package to be delivered.</p><hr/><p>"Hey, Lynn." Lincoln greeted her as he <em>finally </em>arrived, carefully closing the rooftop door behind him. "Sorry it took so long. You'll never believe this. I was on my way up here but then Sam burst out of the janitor's closed and—MRRF!"</p><p>No, she <em>didn't </em>believe it, and she was going to have words with the Sharp girl about inflicting surprise visits on her little brother. But the more pressing issue was that Lincoln had been exposed to entirely too much floozy within the last few minutes. So Lynn took it upon herself to remind him who his <em>girlfriend </em>was by shoving him up against the door and ramming her tongue down his throat. These were her favorite kinds of reminders.</p><p>"Wow." Lincoln wheezed as a lack of oxygen finally forced Lynn to release him from her lip lock. He gave her that infuriatingly cute, bucktoothed smile of his. "If I'd known that's what you wanted, I'd have run faster."</p><p>"S-shut up." Lynn grumbled, secretly pleased that she managed to have that effect on him. "And hold on a sec while I change into something more comfortable..."</p><p>Lincoln's eyes widened as she began backing up, apparently having realized what she was about to do. "Lynn, wait!"</p><p>Too late for that though. "Shazam!" Lynn shouted, relishing the trill of magic that always accompanied the invocation—</p><p>
  <em>KATHOOM</em>
</p><p>—Right before the real-deal blast of magical lightning sealed the deal. The surge of eldritch energy crashed directly into her, detonating in a brilliant display of radiance. The transformation was instantaneous, and when the air cleared Lynn Loud had become Lynn Marvel.</p><p>"You said you were going to be more careful about doing that out in public." Lincoln complained, now forced to look upward at Lynn's magically aged up body.</p><p>"Careful, schmareful." Lynn scoffed, shrugging indifferently.</p><p>"That doesn't mean anything!"</p><p>"It means that I'm <em>awesome</em>!" Lynn replied, smirking down at her even littler brother as she struck a pose. Lynn always got a little punchy immediately after transforming, a fact that the Wisdom of Solomon reminded her of all too frequently, but honestly who could blame her? She was faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a...a train, maybe? Probably more than that. Just the other day she'd taken two trains to the face and hadn't even flinched, so she was <em>reasonably </em>certain that she was at least as powerful as three trains.</p><p>Much more relevant to the matter at hand, however, was that whereas Lynn Loud was weak, scrawny, and could barely fill out a training bra, <em>Lynn Marvel </em>was all boobs, legs, and a killer set of abs. And she fully intended to put those attributes to good use.</p><p>"Just trying to remind yourself how good you have it, Linc." Lynn purred as she effortlessly lifted the boy up off the ground by his shirt, and held him aloft with one hand. She'd expected him to be annoyed at minimum, maybe a little angry by the condescending treatment, and as always she kicked herself, annoyed that she so enjoyed pushing her brother's buttons like this. But she couldn't help herself. An angry Lincoln was a cute Lincoln, and Lynn could never resist indulging herself. She'd just have to make it up to him later...</p><p>Much to her surprise, however, Lincoln didn't get upset. He just stared at her, eyes wide, mouth open with shock, as if what she'd just said was the craziest thing he'd ever heard.</p><p>"Lynn, you never need to remind me about that." He said, looking directly at <em>her</em>, and not the rocking, super powered body."You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."</p><p>It was...corny. Incredibly, infuriatingly so. But not half as infuriating as the fact that Lynn believed him, utterly and without question. As always, Lincoln remained her biggest weakness.</p><p>"You...dork." Lynn muttered, suddenly at a loss for words. She pulled the boy close and hugged him tightly to her chest, allowing herself a small shudder of delight as she felt his tiny body struggle against hers. Lincoln was the dorkiest dork who had ever dorked. But he was <em>her </em>dork, and she loved him.</p><p>"Alright." She chuckled, loosening her grip on the boy and finally allowing him to come up for air. "You and me are going on a date. <em>That </em>part is non negotiable. But I will let you pick the place."</p><p>"So..." She said, giving him her most dazzling smile. "Where do you want to go?"</p><p>"With you? Anywhere." Came his immediate reply. "But can we take the long scenic route?"</p><p>"...Anything you want, Linc." Lynn murmured, leaning down and giving her brother a short, but meaningful kiss as she began to drift into the sky. "But you're gonna want to hold on tight. I've been dying to get some flying done all day, so wherever we end up going is going to involve at least six loop-de-loops."</p><p>"Lynn!"</p><p>The world's mightiest mortal grinned fiercely as she rocketed towards the heavens, the love of her life clutched firmly in her arms. That sound was music to her ears.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Lightning Strikes Twice</h2></a>
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</p><p></p><div class="xcontrast">
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    <div>
      <p>Lincoln groaned, equal parts pained and please as consciousness returned and he was roused from his slumber. On the one hand, he felt safe, and warm, and incredibly comfortable. On the other, his back was <em>incredibly </em>sore, and even his sleep muddled brain found that concerning. Thankfully, before he could worry too much, a pair of soft, warm lips pressed against his own, and he immediately felt the tension in his body begin to fade away.</p>
      <p>"About time you woke up." Purred an entirely <em>too </em>sensual voice as the kiss ended. The overdose of pleasurable sensations he was being subjected to were beginning to have their effect, and Lincoln redoubled his efforts to properly awaken before certain <em>other </em>parts of his body could beat him to the punch. With great exertion, the boy finally managed to force his eyes open...and immediately regretted it, the morning light streaming into his room far too harsh for him at this stage. But after several, painful moments, his vision <em>finally </em>began to adjust, and he soon found himself staring into the welcomed, albeit still somewhat blurry sight of Lynn's smiling face.</p>
      <p>"Mornin', Linc." She murmured leaning forward and giving him a brief peck on the lips. A second taste of the girl put a little more color in his world. But more importantly, it gave his brain a much needed jump start. Finally he was beginning to process the world around him once more. And, more specifically, the shapely form situated beneath him.</p>
      <p>"Morning, Lynn." He replied, surrendering to his impulses and nuzzling his face against hers. "You didn't change back?"</p>
      <p>The previous night was coming back to him. He and Lynn had stayed out a bit later than they'd intended, but they'd been enjoying themselves too much. They hadn't even gone anywhere, not really, the simple act of soaring through the air, held fast in his girlfriend's arms was fulfilling in a way that no mundane activity could hope to match, he hadn't wanted it to end. And clearly Lynn had felt the same way. So they'd flown on, seeing new sights and enjoying each other's company, until finally they had no choice to return home. They'd slipped in through his window, Lincoln had bid his sister goodnight, and then...Lynn had decided that she'd had other ideas as to how they'd be spending the night.</p>
      <p>Which was why he currently found himself laying atop what appeared to be a <em>very </em>attractive, and <em>extremely </em>naked twenty-something year old woman. Which he was <em>in no way complaining about</em>, but...</p>
      <p>"Why would I change back?" Lynn asked, shrugging indifferently. "I like being this way. <em>You </em>like me this way."</p>
      <p>"I like you when you're <em>you</em>." Lincoln replied, frowning, desperately trying to ignore the way Lynn's movements caused her ample breasts to constrict around him in a way that was<em> very</em> gratifying. "Super girl or not, you're always Lynn to me."</p>
      <p>"Whoopdee doo, you love me for who I am." Lynn scoffed. Despite her tone, her face was now tinged a peculiar shade of pink, hinting that she was more pleased than she was letting on. "Well <em>I</em> didn't feel like changing back."</p>
      <p>"Lynn..." He didn't get a chance to continue. Smiling mischievously, the older girl took his hand in her own and pressed it against her bare breast, cooing in delight as he instinctively squeezed the supple, feminine flesh in his grasp.</p>
      <p>"Besides..." She purred, as she forced him to trace his fingers down the length of her curvaceous adult form. "Are you really going to complain about getting to cuddle up against <em>this</em> all night?"</p>
      <p>"Y-you know I'm not..."</p>
      <p>"Good!" Again she pressed her lips against his, this time <em>far </em>more aggressively. "Now shut up and we can pick up where we left off!"</p>
      <p>"But what if somebody comes in and <em>sees</em> this?" He asked, squirming against her vice-like grip."</p>
      <p>"Yes. What <em>if </em>someone was to see this?"</p>
      <p>Lincoln froze, distressed to see Lynn's own wide-eyed look of panic. Neither of them had spoken. Neither of them <em>could </em>have spoken, they'd both been a bit too preoccupied in that particular moment. Which meant...</p>
      <p>His heart hammering in his chest, Lincoln slowly looked towards the sound of the voice.</p>
      <p>"Hello, siblings." Said Lucy, waiving to the pair from her perch in his air vent. "We have things to discuss."</p>
      <hr/>
      <p>"We're here," Lynn said, gruffly as she landed. Lincoln loosened his grip on her, and she gently deposited him upon the ground. A moment later, she did the same with Lucy.</p>
      <p>Lincoln shot a worried glance at his little sister. She was even more pale than usual and trembling fiercely. This was at least <em>partially </em>due to their mode of transportation. While Lincoln was used to Lynn's flying <em>now</em>, there had been a period of adjustment, and more than a few of their initial flights had ended with him puking his guts out. But the stern glare Lynn was leveling at the much smaller girl probably wasn't helping matters.</p>
      <p>"Lynn..." Lincoln began, only to lose his nerve when Lynn briefly directed her baleful gaze in his direction. He supposed he couldn't blame her too much. Lucy catching them in the act had been an unwelcome surprise, and that had only been compounded when the younger girl had slyly implied that the two of them would need to figure out a way to buy her silence. He had expected Lynn to react...negatively, to put it lightly. As much as he loved Lynn, he couldn't deny that she'd never been able to take losing very gracefully, and that was <em>before</em> she could shatter concrete with her bare hands. Also, when Lynn was transformed she tended to be more...impulsive than usual, so it had worried him, just a bit, when instead of exploding at their little sister, Lynn's response had been to calmly dress, grab her siblings, and fly them off to...<em>somewhere</em>.</p>
      <p>Lincoln wasn't familiar with this particular spot, the sole male Loud sibling vastly preferred to spend his recreational time indoors, but there was green grass, shady trees, and a few benches overlooking a gentle slope, leading townward. He surmised that this was probably one of the places Lynn came for hiking or bicycling. Most notably, and likely to be the reason she'd chosen this specific location, was it was completely devoid of human life. The jury was still out on whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.</p>
      <p>"Come on, Lynn." He pleaded, steeling himself for whatever Lynn's response might be. "Don't do anything you're gonna regret. Lucy didn't mean anything by it."</p>
      <p>"I'm not <em>doing </em>anything, Lincoln." Came her surprisingly level reply. "Lucy said she wanted to talk. So that's what we're going to do. <em>Talk</em>."</p>
      <p>"So, Lucy." She continued, turning towards their still trembling sister. "I <em>think </em>you were in the middle of trying to get me to make it worth your while to keep quiet about what me and Linc have been up to, right?"</p>
      <p>"C-come on, Lynn." Lucy stammered, shuffling a little closer to Lincoln. It was strange, and a little unsettling to see the normally stoic girl in such a state. "I was just trying to see if I could get you do my chores for a bit, o-or possibly pay a visit to some kids for me. I wasn't really going to tell anyone, honest!"</p>
      <p>Yielding to his brotherly instincts, Lincoln reached out and put his arm around Lucy, pulling the younger girl close. Her response was to cling to him fiercely, even as he encircled her in a protective hug. It would have been adorable if she hadn't looked so terrified.</p>
      <p>"Ugh, will you two get a room already?" Lynn groaned. "Actually, forget I said that. Anyway, calm the heck down Luce, I was just messing with you, geez."</p>
      <p>Much to Lincoln's relief, Lynn's whole demeanor changed, her stone-faced indifference now replaced with mild annoyance. That was a big improvement. Angry Lynn had a tendency to punch holes in things, <em>annoyed </em>Lynn generally just grumbled and pouted, and forced him to cheer her up. He could <em>deal </em>with annoyed Lynn.</p>
      <p>"R-really?" Lucy said, timidly peeking out from Lincoln's embrace. She didn't actually let go of him, however.</p>
      <p>"Yes!" Lynn threw up her hands in frustration. "I just wanted to scare you a bit! Teach you a little lesson for spying on me and Lincoln! It was supposed to be fun!"</p>
      <p>"Ha. Ha." Said Lucy, articulating the words rather than actually laughing.</p>
      <p>"Close enough," Lynn grumbled, she glided towards the pair and gave them a quick hug, before putting them back on the ground. "We're cool Luce, honest."</p>
      <p>"G-good." Lucy sighed with relief, finally letting go of Lincoln. "And I meant it. I won't tell anyone about you guys."</p>
      <p>"Awesome," Lincoln said, wiping his sweat-drenched brow. "Now we can all head back home and—"</p>
      <p>"<em>Not</em> just yet, little bro," Lynn interjected, waggling one finger at him. "We've still got some unfinished business to take care of."</p>
      <p>Lincoln and Lucy exchanged uncertain glances. "We do?" They said in unison</p>
      <p>"Yep. Because while I love Lucy to death..." Lynn paused so she could reach down and tousle the raven-haired girl's hair affectionately. "I <em>don't </em>trust her to keep my secret."</p>
      <p>"About you and Lincoln, or about you being...some kind of <em>superhero</em>, I'm guessing?"</p>
      <p>"Yes." Lynn nodded. "Either. Both. All of that. I think you might be able to resist telling anyone directly, but I know for a fact that you write down <em>everything</em> in your diary."</p>
      <p>"Only because you keep <em>reading </em>it," Lucy grumbled.</p>
      <p>"Not to mention your frequent heart to hearts with that vampire of yours."</p>
      <p>"Edwin's a good listener..."</p>
      <p>"Ya see?" Lynn flung her arms out to her sides. "Even if Spooky doesn't <em>tell </em>anyone, that doesn't mean nobody's going to find out. So I think I'm gonna need a little insurance to make sure she keeps her mouth shut."</p>
      <p>"What...did you have in mind?" Lincoln asked, sidling a little closer to Lucy and sliding his arm around her shoulders. Lynn rolled her eyes at the implications of the action, but didn't otherwise comment.</p>
      <p>"Lucy." She said instead, turning her attention to the younger girl. "Did you know our brother here needs to be saved <em>all the time</em>?"</p>
      <p>"Not...<em>all </em>the time." Lincoln weakly protested.</p>
      <p>"There was that giant robot that attacked your field trip—"</p>
      <p>"It was to a giant robot factory! That wasn't <em>my </em>fault, it happens literally all the time! How do they even stay in business?"</p>
      <p>"And when those trees came to life during Clyde's birthday party and started wrecking the place—</p>
      <p>"The city's been dumping toxic waste at the park for years! It was just bad luck that they happened to mutate on that particular day!"</p>
      <p>"And do I even need to mention the time those dinosaurs went on a rampage!"</p>
      <p>"<em>That </em>was..." Lincoln cut himself off, frowning in concentration. "Wait, are you talking about the dinosaurs that came from underground or the dinosaurs that came from space?"</p>
      <p>"I rest my case." Lynn proclaimed, smirking triumphantly.</p>
      <p>"Have our lives always been this...colorful?" Lucy asked, puzzled.</p>
      <p>"The <em>point </em>is, I worry that one of these days..." Lynn's expression suddenly turned somber. "...one of these days I might not be able to get there in time. And if that ever happened...if something ever happened to him...I just don't know what I'd do."</p>
      <p>"Oh, Lynn..." Lincoln started moving towards his big sister, intending to comfort her, but he found his progress impeded. Glancing down, he saw that Lucy had once again attached herself to his person.</p>
      <p>"Hey, don't get mushy on me." Lynn chuckled, waving dismissively at him. "I'm not saying it's <em>gonna </em>happen, on account of me being awesome and all. But it never hurts to hedge your bets a little."</p>
      <p>Lincoln's eyes widened in realization. "So you're thinking..."</p>
      <p>"Yeah." Lynn nodded, grinning broadly. "I'm gonna let Lucy into the club. The way I see it, she'll be more careful if its <em>her </em>secret she's keeping. And this way I'll get an extra pair of eyes on you when I need em. Kill two birds with one stone."</p>
      <p>Lucy looked between her siblings, confused. "I don't follow."</p>
      <p>"You will in a minute." Lynn gestured to Lincoln. "Do your thing on her, lil bro."</p>
      <p>"You...sure about that, Lynn?"</p>
      <p>"Positive." She gave him a thumbs up. "Make with the magic."</p>
      <p>"If you say so."</p>
      <p>Grunting with exertion, Lincoln finally managed to pry Lucy off of him. Then, before she could reattach herself to him, he took both her hands in his own, and stared into her eyes. Or at least, his best approximation of where her eyes might be.</p>
      <p>"Lucy." He said softly. "I need you to focus on me."</p>
      <p>"W-what?" The pale girl reddened considerably under his gaze. "I don't understand, big brother..."</p>
      <p>"Take a deep breath, and focus." He instructed, gently. "I'm opening a conduit to you."</p>
      <p>"It...<em>tingles</em>." Said Lucy, frowning in puzzlement. "What <em>is </em>that? What's going on?"</p>
      <p>"That's the magic, it's all going to make sense, I promise. Just let it in, and when it comes to you, I need you to say the—"</p>
      <p>"S-<em>Shazam</em>?" Lucy replied, haltingly</p>
      <p>
        <em>KATHOOM</em>
      </p>
      <hr/>
      <p>Lynn hadn't expected the process to happen so quickly. One moment her siblings were having a weirdly adorable moment, and then a ginormous, very familiar blast of magical lightning was exploding in the middle of their little hideaway. From what she could remember, the first time she and Lincoln had done this it had taken a <em>lot </em>longer for the magic to take hold. And speaking of which...</p>
      <p>"AAAAAAAAAAAH-ULP!"</p>
      <p>Lynn reached out and nonchalantly plucked her brother out of the air just before he could hit the ground.</p>
      <p>"Everything okay, Linc?" She asked, concerned in spite of her level tone. That had been a bit more volatile than she'd been expecting.</p>
      <p>"F-fine." Lincoln wheezed, blinking rapidly. "I'm not normally at ground zero when that happens."</p>
      <p>"You get used to it." Lynn chuckled, giving the boy an affectionate squeeze. "Oh hey, look!"</p>
      <p>The blast had left a thick cloud of smoke in its wake. Now it was beginning to dissipate, and Lynn found herself eagerly leaning forward in anticipation.</p>
      <p>There, standing the singed grass and static charged air was a young woman. Long raven hair trailing down her back and over a tight, form-fitting costume identical to her own, save for its black coloring. Appropriate, given its wearer.</p>
      <p>"W-what...?" Lucy uttered, dumbfounded, as she stared down at her body in amazement. No longer Lucy Loud; the tiny, shy, goth-enthusiast, but now Lucy Marvel, a fully grown, super-powered defender for good. Perhaps...a bit <em>too </em>fully grown.</p>
      <p>"Why is she <em>taller </em>than me?" Lynn grumbled at her brother, who could only shrug in response. While Lucy didn't have Lynn's muscle mass, being much more slender in build, she had several inches on her, and Lynn couldn't help but be a little irked by that.</p>
      <p>Lucy took one tentative step forward and immediately began to topple over, eliciting an amused grin from Lynn. The problem with going from small and petite to big and bursting with curves in the span of a few seconds was that it played havoc with your center a balance, a problem that she herself had struggled with initially. She'd started forward, intending to grab her not so little sister before she hit the ground, but hesitated when Lucy managed to stumble towards a nearby tree, arms outstretched—</p>
      <p>
        <em>CRRRACK</em>
      </p>
      <p>—Which promptly snapped off its base upon coming into contact with Lucy's deceptively delicate-looking hands, crashing loudly to the ground. Fortunately, it had provided the other girl with just enough resistance that she was able to right herself once more.</p>
      <p>"Woah!" Lucy exclaimed as she stared down at the fallen tree trunk. Hesitantly, she reached down with one hand, and despite it being several times larger than her, easily hefted the trunk up and over her head.</p>
      <p>"This is unreal." She uttered. A gentle exertion sent the trunk soaring high into the sky, where it quickly disappeared. Several moments later, there was still no sight of it.</p>
      <p>"Having fun?" Lynn asked, stepping closer, so as to draw the other girl's attention.</p>
      <p>"...Yeah." Lucy said, nodding slowly as she flexed her arm experimentally. "I think I could get <em>used </em>to this."</p>
      <p>"I'll bet." Lynn laughed. She realized she was still holding onto Lincoln, and tried to discretely put him on the ground. Apparently, she'd failed, as Lucy's gaze immediately locked onto her "big" brother.</p>
      <p>"So this is the deal." Said Lynn. "You be my sidekick, and everything's cool between us. I know you won't go blabbing about my...after school job if you're involved yourself."</p>
      <p>"Hmm," Lucy murmured. There was an explosion of movement, far quicker than a normal human eye could follow, and suddenly Lincoln was in Lucy's arms, the raven-haired girl smiling fondly at the smaller boy.</p>
      <p>"Or I could be your <em>partner.</em>" Lucy corrected Lynn, hugging Lincoln to her chest. "<em>That </em>sounds a lot fairer."</p>
      <p>"We can work out the exact details <em>later,</em>" Lynn growled, stepping closer to the pair. With practiced ease, she threaded her arms through Lucy's and pulled Lincoln away, <em>very nearly </em>succeeding in retrieving the boy before Lucy caught on and reasserted her own grip. Now, the two girls stood opposite from one another each clutching half of their brother between them.</p>
      <p>"Apparently there are <em>several </em>details we need to discuss," Lucy observed, sliding a little closer to Lincoln.</p>
      <p>"Agreed." Lynn nodded, responding in kind. "But we'll have plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now..." She grinned fiercely. "I <em>think </em>you'd said something about some kids you'd wanted my help with."</p>
      <p>An enormous grin broke out on the younger girl's face as comprehension dawned upon her.</p>
      <p>"<em>Wicked</em>." Lucy chuckled, looking more expressive than she ever had before.</p>
      <p>Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Power of Shazam</h2></a>
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</p><p>Lincoln's vision blurred, causing severe disorientation as he stumbled down the street. A poorly judged step combined with a <em>very </em>unfortunately timed throb of pain from his head caused him to veer off course, very nearly toppling over and onto the cold, unforgiving sidewalk beneath him. However, the Loud boy found his resolve, and with a firm stamp of his foot, managed to stay standing. Of course, now his <em>leg</em> was throbbing something fierce, tiny, <em>painful </em>electric shocks working their way up his body, but it was considerably better than falling on his face. <em>Again</em>. He breathed a sigh of relief, taking comfort in that small victory.</p><p>It was at that point that he noticed the shadow looming overhead. Before Lincoln had time to react, a pair of arms encircled his still aching waist and <em>yanked </em>him off his feet.</p><p>That's it! The gloves were coming off! The old man had warned him about using magic recklessly, but Lincoln one beating a day seemed like a more than reasonable place to draw the line, even <em>he </em>could only be pushed so far. Throwing caution to the wind, Lincoln curled his right hand into a claw like shape, and with fury briefly dispelling the fog of pain muddling his brain, he found his focus.</p><p>A crackling ball of lightning sprung to life within his palm. It was small, he couldn't manage anything bigger at the moment, but at this distance he figured smashing it right into his assailant's face should do plenty of damage. Kicking his legs out, Lincoln managed to get <em>just </em>the leverage he needed, and prepared to ram his little creation straight on home!</p><p>...Only to find himself face to face with the familiar smiling visage of a certain blonde rocker.</p><p>"Heya, Linc." Sam drawled. "What...<em>happened to your face!"</em></p><p>Lincoln groaned, and after a brief moment of panic, dismissed the lightning that was still clenched in his hand. No need for that <em>now</em>, he was in enough trouble as it was.</p><hr/><p>Concerned Sam was not a phenomenon that Lincoln was properly equipped to deal with, especially not after the day he was having. That he was <em>still </em>having, strictly speaking.</p><p>He liked Sam. Quite a bit, actually. When she'd first come into their lives Lincoln had, admittedly, been a little suspicious of her. Not out of any real dislike of the mostly-blonde girl, but simply because she was dating his sister. The Louds were protective of one another to a fault, and an interloper was going to be scrutinized, even the pretty ones with lovely singing voices and wicked guitar skills. Fortunately, Sam had acclimated herself well to the chaos of the Loud family, and it wasn't long before they'd begun to consider her as a member of the family. Lincoln certainly did, it was like having <em>another </em>sister, and he was cool with that.</p><p>...Well, most of the time, at least. That particular sword cut both ways. Sam was certainly fun to be around, and it wasn't long before he'd felt like he'd established a tangible rapport with the older girl, the kind that was rare to find with anyone outside your own family. But the girl <em>loved </em>messing with him. It had only been a few days since she'd burst out of a random supply closet in the school hallway and very nearly scared the poop out of him n a very literal sense (how did she even know to hide in that specific closet? She didn't even go to his school!). She'd apologized afterwords, even gave him a rather heartfelt apology hug to go with it, but it had been difficult to ignore the way she was sniggering at his expense the entire time. She wouldn't even let him leave for a while, insisting he stay there, holding her while she continued to laugh herself silly. Even so, Lincoln tried not to take it personally, that was just Sam. Sometimes she arranged for you to wake up in the arms of your very bewildered, very <em>embarrassed </em>older sister (Sorry Luna). Sometimes she insisted on joining your special comic book reading time, firmly insisting that the "dress code" be applied to anyone who partakes, even those unfortunate tag alongs she herself forces to come along (Sorry again, Luna). And the less said about the incident where Sam had guilt tripped him into giving her feedback about her new concert outfit, the better. The skirt had been <em>so</em>...so very short, very nearly nonexistent, and she'd kept on doing lunges and high kicks for some reason. It would have been mortifying even if Luna <em>hadn't </em>been right there alongside him, and he'd been so embarrassed that he hadn't been able to look at his big sister for the entirety of that particular episode. Thankfully Luna was easy going as ever, and strangely okay with the fact that he'd spent a good portion of his day being forced to check out her girlfriend. <em>Lynn, </em>on the other hand, had been considerably less okay with the situation when she'd found out, and it had taken a lot of convincing from Lincoln to keep her from giving Sam a piece of her mind. As well as several <em>other </em>things besides, no doubt. Like part of Sam's jaw...</p><p>Still, while she had her faults, Lincoln had come to accept those parts of Sam, just like he would with any of his sisters. She was a vibrant, energetic girl who was full of life, and as frustrating as it could be sometimes, it was also just a part of who she was. Which is why it was worrying to see Sam's face so marred with concern. Not a single joke was made at his expense, she just stared at him, mouth agape. It had fallen to Lincoln to diplomatically suggest she put him down on the ground now, which helped matters a bit, but now—</p><p>"Spill it, Lincoln!"</p><p>—Now he was stuck dealing with a very irate pseudo-sister.</p><p>He sighed. "Look Sam, it's <em>not </em>that big of a deal—"</p><p>"Not that big? Lincoln, you're bruised! Your eye is going to swell up if we don't get something on it! You look like you picked a fight with a fist <em>made </em>of smaller, <em>angrier</em> fists!"</p><p><em>Look at me, I'm Sam Sharp</em>. Lincoln thought, mentally rolling his eyes. <em>I point out things that are obvious just because they prove my point</em>.</p><p>"It's <em>fine</em>, Sam. Honest. I'm over it. I just want to go home and lay down for a while."</p><p>"And would 'going home' involve <em>sneaking </em>into the house so nobody will see you?"</p><p>Lincoln's eyes darted back and forth, and he immediately berated himself for the not keeping a tighter grip on his emotions.</p><p>"I don't know what you're talking about." He said, coolly.</p><p>"Because it seems to <em>me</em> that if your other sisters saw you in this condition, they probably wouldn't take things as lightly as you're trying to."</p><p>Lincoln winced. No, no they wouldn't.</p><p>"And it seems to <em>me</em> that if you were going to try your David Steel, super spy act to slip into the house without anyone seeing you, that could <em>easily </em>be undone by a concerned person just <em>telling </em>your sisters that you look like one of Luna's drum kits after a long jam session."</p><p>Again he winced. Yes. <em>That </em>would be a problem.</p><p>"So it seems to <em>me</em>, that if you don't want <em>eleven</em> angry girls (plus or minus a Lily) hounding you over this, you'd better start talking to the <em>one </em>angry girl who happens to be right here."</p><p>It was actually worse than she realized. While all of Lincolns sisters had a tendency to go ballistic it came to defending their one and only brother, it was the two sisters <em>with superpowers</em> that really concerned him. If Lynn and Lucy caught wind of his current condition...well, he didn't even want to dwell on that.</p><p>"Okay, okay." He grumbled, holding up his hands in surrender. "You got me. I'll talk."</p><p>"Good." Sam flashed him a bright smile. She'd played him, again, and she knew it. Then the smile vanished, and Serious Sam was back. "Now spill the beans, little dude."</p><p>Better to get it over with then. "Well, I went down to the comic book shop because there's a new, limited-edition Ace Savvy comic that's coming out today—"</p><p>"Wait, issue One or Eleven? That's out!? Why didn't you call me!"</p><p>He smiled sheepishly. "I was actually planning on picking up two. Thought it'd be a fun surprise for you." Like he said, for as much grief as she gave him, he <em>did </em>like Sam. The girl had developed a taste for fine literature, Ace Savvy comics in particular, and it had proven to be a nice way for the two of them to bond. He just wished she'd keep her clothes on when they read comics together.</p><p>Lincoln let out a strangled gasp as Sam pulled him into another hug, her slender arms squeezing around his very tender, very <em>bruised </em>ribs. Thankfully, she seemed to catch on, and quickly put him back down.</p><p>"Sorry." She said, giving him a peck on the cheek. "That was really sweet of you." She gestured back at his face. "Now go back to <em>explaining </em>this."</p><p>Right. That. "There isn't much to explain..." He drawled, hoping that maybe she'd be a little more amenable to quietly dropping things now—</p><p>"I'm <em>waiting</em>, Lincoln." Well, so much for that. Geeze, she really <em>was </em>the sister he'd never had.</p><p>"Fine." He exhaled, finally conceding that he wasn't getting out of this. "I went to the store to pick up some comics, and there were some guys there I'd never seen before. I didn't think much of them, but on my way to the front counter I ended up falling over and hitting my head on one of the shelves."</p><p>Sam's lips contorted into a thin line. "You feeling especially clumsy today, Loud?"</p><p>"No," Lincoln admitted. "It was one of those guys. They'd tripped me."</p><p>"Uh-huh," Sam said, noncommittally. "And <em>then </em>what?"</p><p>"Well, one of them offered to help me up, and at that point, I honestly thought I <em>had </em>just tripped over my own feet or something. I'm not exactly the most coordinated guy, you know?"</p><p>"I've seen...<em>less</em> coordinated folk," Sam replied diplomatically. "So what clued you in?"</p><p>"Guy took my hand and when I was just about to be back on my feet, he kinda pushed me back down."</p><p>"<em>Pushed</em>, you say?"</p><p>"It was really more like...a throw, I guess? And at that point he had his hands on me so, he just kind of kept going at it. Kind of like a yo-yo. Only..."</p><p>"Yeah, I get it," Sam muttered, running her hand through her hair in an uncharacteristically irritated manner. "Anything else?"</p><p>Lincoln briefly considered telling her that once the guy had gotten tired of seeing how many ways he could plant Lincoln's face on the floor, he'd called his pals over to see how well a round-headed, white-haired kid worked as a soccer ball. Not well, apparently, he barely rolled at all, no matter how hard they'd kicked him. But Sam was getting an angry vein on her forehead very similar to the kind Lynn sometimes got. So he made the executive decision to omit that part of the story.</p><p>"No." He replied, nodding slowly. "That was...basically it."</p><p>Sam closed her eyes and took a very deep breath, then exhaled. She took another breath, and then another. The process repeated itself for a while. Finally, she opened her eyes once more, and this time they were filled with purpose.</p><p>"Alright then." She said at last. "Think I'm ready now. Which comic book shop were you at? The one a few blocks up, I'm guessing, right?"</p><p>Anxiety began to pool in Lincoln's stomach. "Y-yeah."</p><p>"Okay." Sam began to rotate her shoulder as she glanced around, frowning. "Heck of a day to forget my guitar, that case packs a <em>wallop</em>, but I think I'll manage."</p><p>"Sam." He pleaded. "Please tell me you're not going to do what I <em>think </em>you're going to do."</p><p>"If you think I'm <em>not </em>going to march back there and give that guy a piece of my <em>fist</em>, then yes." She replied, sweetly. "I'm <em>not</em> going to do that."</p><p>A small droplet of blood dripped down from Lincoln's nose. He honestly couldn't tell if it was from his injuries or the really roundabout double negative.</p><p>"Sam, no! You can't!"</p><p>"Funny." She glanced down at her clenched fists and took a few experimental swings at the air. "Pretty sure I can. Seems like everything's in working order."</p><p>"W-well, you shouldn't! Seriously, Sam, you shouldn't mess with these guys!"</p><p>"Lincoln, please." She scoffed, throwing back her hair confidently. "No offense, but these are a couple of doofuses who hang around in a comic book shop looking for easy targets. How tough could they actually be?"</p><p>"The lead one was...pretty big."</p><p>"Obviously to <em>you</em>, short stuff. But you're adorable and fun-sized." Sam chuckled, leaning down and tousling his hair affectionately. He didn't appreciate the condescension, but he had to admit...the gesture felt nice.</p><p>"Now come on." Sam continued, holding her hand a little over Lincoln's head. "How big are we talking here?" She raised her hand a little higher and stopped, looking at Lincoln. When he continued to stay silent, she continued lifting her hand.</p><p>"Just to clarify, Linc. You're supposed to tell me when to stop."</p><p>"I will." He promised. And so the exercise continued, Sam's confidence visibly fading little by little as her hand continued to rise.</p><p>"Right about there." Said Lincoln, finally. When she wasn't being compared to his own puny stature, Sam wasn't all that tall to begin with. Even so, when Lincoln told her to stop, she'd been holding her arm straight up, a good ways over her own head. Not fully extended, but close enough to get the point across.</p><p>"Ah." She swallowed, clearly shaken. "That's...that's a bit more than I was expecting."</p><p>Lincoln sighed in relief. "See what I mean? It's not worth it. Let's just go, we can poke around online, see if we can find the comic for a decent price that way. Heck, we can make a day of it. What do you say?"</p><p>Sam didn't say anything, simply continuing to stare at her own outstretched hand.</p><p>"Sam?" Lincoln asked. But still no reply from the older girl. He took a few steps away, just to see if it'd prompt a response, but still nothing. She seemed to be mulling something over.</p><p>"No, Lincoln." She said at last, finally lowering her hand. She looked to him, and though there was still that bit of uncertainty in her eyes, there was something else there too. <em>Steel</em>. Never had her surname seemed more appropriate.</p><p>"Sam, I don't want you go get in trouble for my sake."</p><p>"Neither do I. But I can't let this kind of thing pass me by Linc."</p><p>"Sam, it's not worth it—"</p><p>"It is to me!" Now she was shouting, visibly upset.</p><p>"Lincoln, I know you think I like to mess with you—"</p><p>"Only because you do."</p><p>"And I do." Sam conceded, with a slight nod. "But I only do that because you're important to me. You guys like to go on about how you consider me a member of your family. Well, that's a two-way street. As far as I'm concerned, you're <em>my </em>little brother, and nobody messes with my little bro!"</p><p>Lincoln blushed, genuinely touched. "Sam, I didn't know you felt that way."</p><p>"Course I do." She chuckled, leaning down and pulling him into a side hug. "I love the heck out of you little dude."</p><p>Now his cheeks were burning. "C-come on, Sam." He protested, glancing around frantically. "You can't just <em>say</em> stuff like that! People might get the wrong idea!"</p><p>"You got a problem with that?" She asked, one eyebrow raised, quizzically.</p><p>"You're dating Luna!"</p><p>"I am." She nodded. "And I love you <em>exactly the same way </em><em>Luna </em>does."</p><p>"That..." He found himself blinking, confused. "That's some very specific phrasing."</p><p>"But accurate." She concluded, giving him another squeeze, before finally letting him go. "And that's why I've gotta do this. I can't stand to see the people I love being hurt like this."</p><p>"And if he's the kind of woke bully who has no problem with hitting girls?"</p><p>Again, Sam lost the tiniest bit of her composure. "I'll figure something out." She said, sounding more confident than she looked.</p><p>"You can head on home, Linc." She said, almost as an afterthought. "I'll take care of this myself."</p><p>Lincoln hesitated. This was <em>dumb</em>. This was very, very dumb. Sam was going to get herself hurt, and it was all for his sake. It was a terrible, <em>stupid </em>decision, but one that she was dead set on making. Lincoln was simultaneously touched and infuriated that this girl was willing to put herself through this out of some misplaced sense of justice. And yet...maybe <em>that </em>was an avenue he hadn't yet considered.</p><p>Magic wasn't supposed to be used to for personal gain. It wasn't supposed to be used to harm people just because it was convenient to do so. That's why he'd refrained from flash frying those dopes back in the comic book shop. But <em>here</em>, he was being presented with an opportunity to use magic to protect another person. Granted, one who was dead set on putting herself in danger, but she was doing it for another person's sake. She was doing it to right what she saw to be an injustice. And that...sounded pretty heroic to him. And <em>that</em>, gave him options.</p><p>"Hang on." He called out, crossing back over to Sam. Before she could say anything, Lincoln grabbed both her hands, firmly grasping them with his own.</p><p>"Lincoln!" She gasped. He was too busy focusing on his work, but something sounded...different, about her voice. He didn't think he'd ever heard Sam use that tone before.</p><p>"Lincoln! I didn't know you were so bold! What will Luna think?" He held back a sigh. <em>That </em>was the Sam he knew and loved.</p><p>"S-shut up." He muttered, trying to ignore the way his cheeks were burning. "And let me focus."</p><hr/><p>Sam stood before the comic book store, feeling considerably cockier than she had only a short while earlier. Eager to get things started, she reached out for the door handle</p><p>
  <em>Reee~</em>
</p><p>And winced as the metal immediately began to buckle in her grip, letting out a high pitched whine.</p><p>"Sam!" Lincoln hissed from behind her. "You need to be more careful!"</p><p>"It's cool, Linc." She whispered over her shoulder. "I think I've got it now."</p><p>"I'm already regretting this."</p><p>"Shut up." She said, peering down at the now even <em>smaller </em>boy, and giving him a smug grin. "You know you love me."</p><p>"I—"</p><p>She didn't want to give him a chance to finish. Lincoln was a sweetie. But he was also insanely dense when it came to girls' feelings. Poor Luna had told her as much, and it hadn't taken long for Sam to see why she'd been so ineffectual in communicating her true feelings to her little brother. Just another thing Sam was going to have to fix. But first things first.</p><p>Easing up on her grip considerably, Sam <em>gently</em> pulled the door open, letting out a soft sigh of relief when this time, the only noise was the jingling of the bell situated above the door, announcing her presence. Satisfied that she'd managed to refrain from causing any further property damage (for now), Sam slipped inside the store. With..<em>some </em>degree of difficulty.</p><p>Moving her new body around was proving to be a bit of a challenge. She was a good bit taller than normal for one thing, and it was a little disorienting to be looking down on things that had been taller than her not too long ago. She and Lincoln had come to this very store before, and she'd remembered the racks of comics looming over her. Not anymore. On top of that, she was considerably more robust in the hips, and, much to her delight, her chest, which played havoc with her center of gravity. Still, she managed to adopt a sort of saunter that allowed her to move her new body around without looking like she was drunk, or some kind of teenager who'd been magically aged into an adult by arcane magics (but really, how often did <em>that</em> happen?). And so, she made her way into the shop, ground the heel of her boot into the ground (remembering to ease up <em>just </em>in time), and struck a pose. Chest thrust out, butt cheeks clenched, and hands-on her hips. Classic power pose.</p><p>"Woah." Came a chorus of distinctly male voices. Yup, she'd nailed it.</p><p>Satisfied with her entrance, Sam took a gander around the store. It was decidedly more empty than it had been the last time she'd been here, but it wasn't hard to see why. Three guys, <em>boys</em>, really, in spite of their looks had been loitering around one of the discount bins, but now all eyes were on her. Just the way she wanted it.</p><p>Sam didn't like to judge people based on their appearance, but these three just <em>screamed </em>"bully" from every orifice. There was a tall one (the ringleader, she'd assumed) who wore a thick, wool cap atop his head and a black, skull-adorned t-shirt just to show how tough he was. Making up the remainder of the group was a shorter, portly kid with a shaved head, and a third, considerably shorter fellow, who could charitably be described as "ratlike". The fact that Lincoln had given these guys the benefit of the doubt for even a <em>second</em> spoke volumes about how wonderfully naive her little guy was. These guys were trouble, and perfectly happy with that. Clearly, what she was about to give them was a <em>long </em>time coming.</p><p>"Hey there, baby." Said wool cap, sauntering...well, more like <em>stumbling </em>towards her in a manner that he clearly thought was supposed to be alluring. It wasn't, and she was saying that as someone who was legitimately having trouble walking at the moment.</p><p>"What's a <em>fine</em> girl like you, doing in a dump like this?" He asked, coming to a stop right in front of her. She was a little impressed, in spite of herself, even in her adult form they were pretty even, height-wise. "And in a costume like <em>that</em>? Although, if you play your cards right, I wouldn't mind <em>helping </em>you out of it, if you know what I mean."</p><p>She did. The sheer lameness of that pick up line aside, his eyes had been locked on her chest the entire time. Subtlety clearly wasn't his strong suit. But that was fine, she wasn't planning on being very subtle herself.</p><p>"I'm...sorry?" She said, looking around in an exaggerated manner, feigning confusion. Then she gasped. "Oh. Oh <em>you</em>, were talking to <em>me</em>."</p><p>"Uh...yeah." He said, his face screwing up in honest, <em>genuine</em> confusion.</p><p>"See, I didn't realize that." She continued, "Because <em>you</em>, thinking you have a shot with <em>any of</em> <em>this</em>..." She took a moment to run her hand down the skin-tight, cyan colored costume that clung to her generous, shapely frame, delighting as his eyes followed along with every tantalizing inch she indicated. "Well that's just <em>stupid, </em>isn't it."</p><p>It took a few moments, but eventually, his uncomprehending stare gave way to a scowl.</p><p>"Are you calling me <em>stupid</em>?" He growled.</p><p>"And ugly," Sam added. "But that was really more implied than anything. I wasn't trying to point it out because that's more your mom's fault than yours. But yeah, I'm out of your <em>league</em>, pal."</p><p>An actual, animalistic growl erupted from the boy's throat, and he reached for her.</p><p>
  <em>Jingle Jingle</em>
</p><p>Only to halt in place as the door swung open behind her.</p><p>"Sam?" Came Lincoln's halting voice. Well, she'd been hoping he'd stay outside while she dealt with the problem, but she could work with this.</p><p>"You!" For a moment, the boy had apparently forgotten about her, now focusing his attention on the pale-haired cutie behind her. Sam was <em>almost </em>insulted. He pointed at Lincoln and tried to step past her. "You're that twerp from before! I thought I told you to stay—"</p><p><em>Big </em>mistake. With reflexes far beyond those of mortals, Sam's hand shot out and wrapped around the boy's outstretched arm, and with only the smallest amount of force, she managed to hold him firmly in place.</p><p>"You got a problem with my <em>boyfriend</em>?" She asked, nonchalantly. Wool cap's eyes flickered her way, his brain now bearing two burdens. One being the fact that a girl had so effortlessly paralyzed him, and the other...</p><p>"B-boyfriend?" He stuttered, dumbstruck. "He's with <em>you</em>?"</p><p>"Actually, I'm with <em>him</em>." Sam corrected the thug, shooting what she'd hoped was a sexy smile back at Lincoln. "And very lucky to be, thank you very much. But the problem <em>here</em>—" Now she began to apply the slightest bit of pressure to his arm, and the boy's mouth parted in a silent scream.</p><p>"—Is that the way I hear it, <em>you </em>guys decided to rough up <em>my </em>man. I'm guessing to make yourselves feel big and tough. Which, to be fair, you losers probably need. But you made one mistake."</p><p>"W-What's that?" The fear-stricken boy squeaked, his voice now several octaves higher than it had been only moments before.</p><p>Still holding him by the arm, Sam pushed upward, now holding the boy up in the air solely by his one, incredibly strained appendage.</p><p>"Because <em>nobody</em> touches <em>my </em>Lincoln!" Sam snarled. With a mere flick of her wrist, she sent the boy hurtling through the air, crashing <em>into </em>(but thankfully not <em>through</em>) the back wall of the store with a loud, audible impact. So great was the force of her throw that he actually stayed suspended, splayed against the wall like one of the many collectibles that adorned the rest of the store. Finally, however, gravity took its toll, and the boy slid to the ground, unmoving. Sam wasn't concerned. With her enhanced senses, she could see his chest rising and falling. The dope had probably passed out and given his expression, more from fear than what little physical trauma she'd inflicted upon him.</p><p>"Now," Sam said, loudly cracking her knuckles as she turned to her attention to the remaining boys, each now quivering in terror. "Lincoln had said there were <em>three</em> of you guys. Seems to me I owe each of you a little something too—"</p><p>"Sam!"</p><p>She jerked in surprise as something lightly touched upon her arm. Looking down, she saw it was Lincoln, who had walked up alongside her.</p><p>"You've made your point." He said softly, "I don't think we have to worry about them doing anything like this again any time soon." Looking back to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb showed that they were clearly in agreement, both boys emphatically nodding their heads.</p><p>"I guess you're right, Linc." She said, nodding slowly. And out of the corner of her eye, she could see him sighing in relief. "Then again..."</p><p>The world around her blurred as Sam rushed forward, <em>inhumanly</em> fast. So fast that to the boys, Lincoln included, she probably seemed to have vanished entirely. All part of her plan, she wanted the element of surprise for this.</p><p>Swooping behind the pair of bullies still standing, she reached down and grabbed both of them by the seat of their shorts. Then, with a slight grunt of exertion, she <em>yanked </em>upwards.</p><p>For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was that of fabric tearing. Seconds passed, the two boys' expressions running through a gamut of emotions. Finally, they seemed to agree upon one. Pain. In unison, the pair fell to their knees and then slumped to the ground in a heap. Sam took a moment to admire her handiwork.</p><p>"Sam!" Lincoln complained. "What was <em>that </em>for? They were done!"</p><p>"Two things," Sam said. "One, those two wouldn't have learned anything if they didn't get a little taste themselves. And two..."</p><p>She held up the bunches of fabric still clutched within her hands and grinned. "I wanted to get you a more literal kind of payback."</p><p>Now it was Lincoln's turn to be confused. "I...I don't..."</p><p>God, he was cute when he was befuddled. Sam <em>really </em>wanted to do something about that, but first things first. Again, she dashed across the store to the front counter, seemingly appearing from thin (and sexy) air before a very befuddled cashier.</p><p>"Two of your finest, limited edition Ace Savvy comics, please." She said cheerfully, tossing him the scraps of fabric. "Pretty sure I felt wallets in there, <em>those </em>guys will be paying for everything." A thought occurred to her, and she darted away</p><p>
  <em>Riiip!</em>
</p><p>"There we go." She announced as she appeared at the counter once more, dropping a third bunch of fabric on the counter. "Almost forgot one."</p><hr/><p>"I still think you went a little overboard." Said Lincoln, as they soared through the air together, the pale-haired boy clutched protectively against her chest as they zoomed across the Royal Woods skyline. It had taken Sam a bit of work to get the hang of flying, but Lincoln seemed pretty well versed in the mechanics, and now she was doing it like a pro. <em>That </em>was something else she was going to have to talk to him about. Find out who <em>else</em> was in this little club of his. And why Luna didn't seem to be among them...</p><p>"Are you going to tell me you weren't at least a <em>little</em> happy to see your woman fighting for your honor?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him. To her delight, Lincoln's normally pale skin darkened considerably, growing several shades more red.</p><p>"C-come on, Sam." He protested. "You can stop kidding around like that." Heh. <em>Kidding</em>, he says. She was looking forward to showing him just how wrong he was.</p><p>"Hey, Sam?" Lincoln looked around, perplexed.</p><p>"Hmm?" She asked, feigning innocence. "What's up, Linc?"</p><p>"You know my house is back <em>that </em>way, right?"</p><p>"Yes, Lincoln." She giggled. "I know exactly where your house is."</p><p>"So..." He prompted, the unspoken question obvious. <em>Where were they going</em>. Where indeed...</p><p>"Well..." She began. "Luna was planning on staying after school to put some work into our new song. But I think she's had enough time to herself. Thought you and I could drop in."</p><p>"W-what for?"</p><p>"Call it a...private jam session." She chuckled, nuzzling her face against his. "With just the three of us..."</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Thunderstruck</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Lincoln darted forward, pumping his legs as hard as he could. As he did so, he frantically glanced around, taking in his surroundings, desperately looking for something he could use for shelter. Finally, he spied something that might do the trick. A large, nondescript, white panel van. The vehicle itself was immaterial, what <em>was </em>important was that it was relatively sturdy, and the body of the vehicle was suspended <em>just </em>high enough that a lanky pale-haired boy might be able to squeeze underneath. The fact that it'd be incredibly difficult for an owner to identify such a vehicle if something unfortunate were to happen to it was a happy bonus ("Well officer, it has zero distinguishing features other than being incredibly van-like. Wait, where are you going? Come back!"). His destination set, Lincoln changed course and charged onward. Just as he was beginning to think he might actually make it, a familiar tingling washed over his body, causing his arm hairs to stand straight up. Throwing caution to the wind, he dove for it. Lincoln winced as he hit the ground, landing on his stomach, but still being carried by his momentum. Boy flesh barely protected by his thin polo shirt met unreasonably prickly grass, which quickly turned to sidewalk, and finally rough, jagged pavement as he slid home into the cool shade of the van's underbelly. He'd made it—</p><p>"<em>Shazam!" </em>Multiple female voices cried out, nearly in unison. The ground beneath him began to tremble, soon joined by the van above him as a powerful shockwave rocked the vehicle. Much to his relief, however, it stayed standing. Lincoln finally let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He was safe. For now.</p><p>It would be unfair to downplay the girls' accomplishments thus far. Lynn, Lucy, and Sam, in spite of the responsibilities that had been thrust upon them, had risen to the occasion. Despite their youth and inexperienced, each of them had accepted their new commitment to protect Royal Woods from the myriad of strange and fantastical threats that threatened the city on a regular basis. And as individuals, they were doing quite well, given the circumstances. As a <em>team</em>, on the other hand...well, they still had a ways to go. Which is why they had agreed (albeit reluctantly) to participate in some team training exercises. And everything had been going <em>great...</em>until it hadn't.</p><p>Things had started promisingly enough. He'd laid out the schedule that Lynn had helped him prepare and given the girls an inspiring pep talk about the importance of family, blood or otherwise, which was supposed to help them let down their guards and begin to work as a team. Theeeeeen it got a little harder to recall <em>exactly </em>what had happened. Somebody put their hand on him, perhaps a <em>bit </em>too intimately, someone else had started yelling, and before he knew it—</p><p>Lincoln clung to his impromptu shelter to steady himself as the ground began to violently shake again.</p><p>—that. That happened. When it rains, it pours. And then the lightning comes out. This, unfortunately, was not an uncommon occurrence, but the girls had gotten much better at limiting the damage to each other, rather than the much less invulnerable public and private property that was always so...present, when these scuffles occurred. He was reasonably confident that they'd get it out of their systems soon enough, and <em>then </em>he'd be able to—</p><p>
  <em>CREEEEK</em>
</p><p>"<em>What the—"</em> Was all Lincoln had time to formulate in his mind before the protective mass of steel situated above him abruptly vanished. Lincoln blinked as sunlight suddenly replaced the cool darkness he'd surrounded himself with.</p><p>"<em>Found you</em>, big brother." Lucy Marvel cooed as she peered down at him, effortless holding the van aloft in one deceptively delicate-looking hand.</p><hr/><p>"Lucy!" Lincoln greeted his not so little sister, trying to keep his voice level. "How—"</p><p>
  <em>FWOOSH</em>
</p><p>He winced as the raven-haired girl sent the vehicle soaring off into the distance with a flick of her hand.</p><p>Lincoln cleared his throat. "H-how's training going?"</p><p>Before she could reply, a distressingly large tree came hurtling down from the sky, straight at their location. Lucy pivoted slightly and swung one arm out, colliding with the trunk of the tree <em>just </em>as it came within range, and causing it to shatter into tiny, splintered fragments.</p><p>"Does that answer your question?" She asked, turning back to him.</p><p>He nodded. "Looks like it's going...well. Maybe you should get back over there and—EEP" He abruptly cut himself off as Lucy was suddenly directly in front of him, crouching so as to put herself close to his level, a ghost of a smile on her face.</p><p>"<em>Actually</em>," She purred, inching closer to him. "I think I would benefit from more...<em>private</em>, instruction. I think we should find some place a bit more secluded, and maybe we can go over that incantation I was having trouble with."</p><p>"Oh no you don't!"</p><p>Trusting his instinct, Lincoln flung himself backward, wincing as his butt hit the pavement. It was absolutely the right move to make, however, as immediately after doing so a crimson streak crashed into the younger girl, smashing her into the ground and causing a small crater to form beneath them. Lincoln briefly caught a glimpse of Lynn standing over the now dazed Lucy before a cyan streak joined the fray, smashing into the pair in a similar fashion and causing the trio to be enveloped by a Loud Family Fight Cloud, which was a commonplace phenomenon that occurred when enough sisters got into a tussle with one another. It was strangely heartwarming to know that whatever force governed that particular phenomenon now seemed to consider Sam family enough partake. Nevertheless, this was a pretty good sign that he should remove himsef from the area. And so, not trusting his footing <em>this</em> close to the brawling supergirls, Lincoln proceeded to crawl away.</p><p>So intent was he on getting away—</p><p>"Oof!"</p><p>—that he completely failed to notice the very solid object that was standing between him, and relative freedom. Blinking away the sharp, stabbing pain that was now throbbing in his nose, Lincoln notice that the subject of his head-on collision was a very distinctive pair of long, purple boots. Craning his neck upward, Lincoln was met with a warm smile and an outstretched palm.</p><p>"Need a hand, lil bro?" Queried Luna Loud.</p><hr/><p>"Luna!" Lincoln exclaimed, exhaling in relief. He took her hand and used it to help himself off the ground. "Listen, I've—"</p><p>"Gotta get away?" Luna interjected, dryly, her lips quirking into a small smile. Luna pointed with her free hand, and following along with his eyes, Lincoln saw that the fight cloud had dispersed. In its place now sat the far less impressive sight of three superheroines, each possessed of inhuman strength, speed, and stamina, now ineffectually grappling with one another and pulling each other's hair.</p><p>"Yeeeeah." Lincoln drawled, turning back to his sister. "Any chance you could give me a lift?"</p><p>"I can see why you might not want to be in the middle of that." Luna opined, stroking her chin thoughtfully. Her smile grew ever so slightly more devilish. "Or maybe you <em>do...</em>"</p><p>"Luna!"</p><p>"Just messing with you bro." Luna chuckled, pulling Lincoln into a quick side hug. "Alright, gimme a second..."</p><p>As Luna sucked in a deep lungful of air, Lincoln took a few steps back—</p><p>"<em>Shazam</em>!"</p><p>—Hoping to avoid the torrent of debris that tended to accompany these moments. It didn't do him much good, and as he stood there, spitting out a mouthful of dust, Lincoln, not for the first time found himself wondering if there wasn't a more practical way to call on the power of the living lightning. Still, he found himself smiling as the smoke cleared, revealing the form of his newest champion.</p><p>"Come on, little bro." Said Luna Marvel as she reached out and offered him her hand once more. "Let's fly away."</p><hr/><p>"Woah!" Luna cried out, as she began to tilt to the side, wobbling unsteadily. Like many things that took skill, flying certainly <em>looked </em>easy enough from the outside, but it turned out that there were a lot of little nuances to keep in mind to avoid spiraling out of control. Which wouldn't have been <em>so </em>bad, had she been flying solo, but on this occasion, she was carrying precious cargo. Letting out a very unladylike grunt of exertion, Luna pulled upward with all her might, finally righting herself at last. She sighed in relief, finally allowing herself to relax, just a bit.</p><p>"Sorry, Linc." Luna said, chuckling sheepishly. "Still trying to get the hang of this."</p><p>"Mrfph mrkrk".</p><p>Whoops. Her cheeks reddening ever so slightly, Luna loosened her hold on Lincoln, forcing herself to hold her arms out just a <em>little </em>farther.</p><p>"And, uh, sorry again." She added, fighting down the urge to scratch her head in embarrassment, she didn't trust herself enough to do this with only one hand, just yet. "I'm not used to having quite so much padding up here." It then occurred to her that she might be able to save face, just a bit.</p><p>"Then again," She continued, giving Lincoln a wink. "Maybe you don't mind being so <em>close </em>to me."</p><p>"Maybe I don't," Lincoln replied. Much to her surprise, Lincoln stared right back at her, not the least bit daunted. There was something about that gaze of his. Her cute little brother had apparently done a lot of growing up lately, and it...<em>stirred</em> things inside her. Primal things. Things good sisters shouldn't be thinking about their siblings. And yet, here they were.</p><p>"Dang it," Luna grumbled, averting her eyes, hoping Lincoln didn't notice the heat blossoming in her cheeks. "I dunno if I should slap Sam or kiss her for forcing us to get together."</p><p>"You did both." Said Lincoln, lips quirking upward into a gentle smile. "A couple of times, from what I remember."</p><p>"And she deserved it." Feeling impulsive, Luna leaned down and gave Lincoln a quick, chaste kiss on the lips. "All of it."</p><p>"I can't argue with that." Lincoln reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks for helping me out back there."</p><p>"Any time. But <em>what </em>happened back there?"</p><p>"Training."</p><p>"Ah." Luna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you should have seen that coming. Sam and Lynn don't gel all that well."</p><p>"Well, they have to," Lincoln replied, stubbornly. "They're a team. At least, they're supposed to be."</p><p>His expression grew contemplative. "Actually, I think there might be more to it than that. The girls are...fine, mostly, when they're apart. They even get along well enough when we're together and they don't transform. But once the magic comes out..."</p><p>He shrugged helplessly. "Well, you saw back there."</p><p>Luna nodded. "Sam actually said something about that the other day."</p><p>"Oh?"</p><p>"Yeah. I'm still pretty new at this, but I think I know what she's talking about. When the magic's in you, it heightens everything, you know?"</p><p>"Well yeah. The Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the—"</p><p>"No, no." Luna shook her head. "I mean, yeah, there's that stuff too, but it also heightens the way you...<em>feel</em> about stuff."</p><p>"I...don't think I follow."</p><p>"When you're charged up on all that magic, everything you feel gets more intense. When you get mad at something, you want to hit it <em>really </em>hard. When you're soaring through the sky, you get <em>really </em>happy. <em>And</em>, when you happen to be around someone you <em>really, really</em> like, well..." She trailed off, hoping Lincoln would get the hint.</p><p>"Yeah?" Well, so much for that.</p><p>"Dang it, Linc," Luna muttered, shaking her head in annoyance. "You <em>like</em> them more, ya get it?"</p><p>"Oh." His mouth formed into a cute little 'O'. "So <em>that</em>'s why Lynn—"</p><p>"Yep."</p><p>"And why Lucy's always—"</p><p>"Double yep."</p><p>"And <em>Sam</em>—"</p><p>"<em>Actually</em>, I'm pretty sure that's just Sam." She allowed herself a giggle at her girlfriend's expense. "But yeah, it can make things...a little intense, in the right situation."</p><p>"Wow, I had no idea."</p><p>"Sam calls it 'Thunderlust'."</p><p>The way Lincoln's expression <em>collapsed </em>at that tidbit of information was glorious.</p><p>"Please tell me she doesn't <em>actually</em> call it that." He deadpanned.</p><p>"I'd like to, but it's also the name of our new song. We're gonna be playing it at our next gig."</p><p>"Fantastic," Lincoln grumbled. A moment later, his eyes widened, and he began to look her over. "Hey, Luna? Are <em>you</em>...uh..."</p><p>"Nope!" Luna wrenched her eyes away from a portion of Lincoln's polo shirt that had managed to catch her attention. One which had found itself plastered to his surprisingly toned stomach. "T-totally cool here, bro."</p><p>"That's a relief." He said, allowing himself to relax, and for once Luna felt grateful for her brother's legendary density for matters involving women. "Not that I'd...mind, you know"</p><p>"That's <em>exactly</em> what a girl likes to hear." Luna snarked, giving Lincoln another peck on the lips. "I love you too, bro."</p><p>"I do! Really!" He protested. "I"m just...really wiped right now. Honest."</p><p>"Just a joke, bro. I getcha. That's why I brought you here." Spying her destination, Luna began to make her descent towards an empty rooftop. She lowered herself <em>just </em>enough to allow Lincoln to safely dismount.</p><p>Lincoln looked around, puzzled. "Where is here?"</p><p>"Here," Luna gestured grandly. "Is an empty rooftop."</p><p>There was a beat of silence.</p><p>"So, should I applaud <em>now</em>? Or..."</p><p>"Nah, nah, little bro." Luna laughed, waving one hand to ward off his snark. "Listen, that's the whole point. Sam and I come here sometimes when we really need to cut loose and our usual soundproofing isn't cutting it."</p><p>"For <em>music</em>?"</p><p>"That too," Luna replied quickly. "The building's abandoned, so we don't have to worry about anyone bothering us. It's just you and me."</p><p>"And..." Lincoln's eyes began to dart back and forth. "<em>What</em> are we going to do exactly."</p><p>"Well, let's leave room for discussion if you're feeling better in a bit."</p><p>Luna reached behind herself. "Right now, you're gonna sit there and rest your head. And <em>I...</em>"</p><p>With a dramatic flourish of her cape, Luna withdrew her guitar from its hiding spot. "Am gonna play a little show for my favorite fan."</p><p>She gave her instrument an expert twirl, allowing it to come to rest, ready to play in her arms.</p><p>"How's <em>that</em> sound?"</p><p>She was expecting Lincoln to be at least a <em>little </em>excited. She'd had to put this together on zero notice, after all. Instead, he just looked puzzled.</p><p>"Where..." He fumbled his words, seemingly having difficulty articulating his thought. "Where were you <em>keeping </em>that."</p><p>Luna's smile hardened, just a bit. "A magician never reveals her tricks, bro."</p><p>"Luna, I'm <em>literally </em>a wizard, and I still can't even fathom how you managed to—"</p><p>"Do you want me to play or not!" Luna growled. Trust Lincoln to ruin things with his stupid logic. It's called showmanship, dammit!</p><p>Mercifully, Lincoln seemed to get the hint. He held up his hands apologetically.</p><p>"Sorry, Luna. Really. I think my head's just in a weird place right now. Yes, I would love to hear you play."</p><p>"Well...alright then." Luna drifted back to her little brother and gave him a quick squeeze. "You're a lucky guy, you know that?" She tried to let go, but before she could Lincoln threw his arms around her and hugged her tight.</p><p>"I'm <em>the </em>luckiest guy." Said Lincoln, looking her in the eye. "And I love you, Luna."</p><p>"G-glad you recognize that," Luna muttered, frustrated that once again, her little brother had managed to fluster her so. Unwilling to simply take it this time, she cupped his face with one hand and pressed her lips to his. This time, the kiss was not chaste in any way, shape, or form. Once she'd finally had her fill, she released him, and as she pulled back, she allowed herself a satisfied smile. The dazed expression on the boy's face spoke volumes.</p><p>"Wow." Said Lincoln.</p><p>"Attaboy." Luna chuckled, taking her instrument in hand once more. "Now, are you ready to rock?"</p><p>"Y-yeah." Lincoln nodded emphatically, his eyes still a little glazed over. "Let's do this."</p><p>"Alright!" Luna shouted, pumping one fist in the air. "Now, <em>this </em>is a little number I like to call..."</p><p>She looked Lincoln right in the eyes, and ran her tongue over her lips, a move that she'd practice many times over for a moment just like this.</p><p>"<em>Thunderlust...</em>"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Big Storm - Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Loud House, in stark contrast to the chaotic forces that inhabited it, would seem fairly mundane to the casual onlooker. However, this impression only lasted until one noticed the rather imposing mass of metal that had taken up residence in the backyard. Or, as it was more commonly known, Lisa's bunker.</p><p>The bunker was as sturdy as it was offputting. Which was by design, as those qualities perfectly suited its owner's needs. The purpose of the structure was twofold. First, to house the more dangerous, and morally ambiguous experiments that Lisa conducted, those which could have disastrous consequences if they were to be disrupted by her unwitting family members. The second was to provide her and her loved ones with shelter in the event of a major crisis. The irony that such a crisis might result from the very experiments housed in her bunker was not lost upon the scientist.</p><p>Nevertheless, on this day it was one such experiment that kept the young girl occupied. Deep within her bunker, Lisa sat at her lab station, checking data readouts and looking over her notes. Occasionally, she'd glance over at the clock, to confirm the time. She didn't need to, of course, Lisa's internal clock was impeccable, and once her body reached maturity she fully intended to implant some variety of a much more literal internal clock just to narrow her margin of error even further. But it was helpful to know what <em>other</em>, less disciplined minds believed the time to be. One such as her expected guest, who was <em>supposed </em>to have arrived quite some time ago. Punctuality was important to Lisa. She valued a concise, orderly schedule, and while she tried to accept that other people did not share her values, it irritated her when those people infringed on <em>her </em>time. And Lisa Loud did <em>not</em> like to be irritated.</p><p>It was getting to the point where she was beginning to entertain the idea of simply finding herself another test subject, though that would have its own caveats. She had already invested a considerable amount of time and effort in determining the viability of this particular specimen, and if she wanted to keep to her timetable, she simply would not have the time to perform another such search. In all likelihood, a secondary specimen would be of considerably lesser quality, and <em>that </em>didn't sit right with her either.</p><p>As Lisa began to weigh the pros and cons of designing some variety of impartial, decision-making robot, one particular light on her workstation began to blink rapidly, emitting a low humming noise in the process. Instinctively, one of her fingers slid over to a large red button labeled "Pain Bots". After a moment of hesitation, her finger slid one row upward, and instead pressed a button marked "Camera One". A nearby monitor turned on, and Lisa let out a small sigh, equal parts relief, and irritation.</p><p>"It's about <em>time</em>." She muttered to herself, before thumbing the intercom. "Welcome, Rebecca. Give me just one moment and I'll buzz you in."</p><hr/><p>"I'm <em>here</em>!" Her guest shouted as she entered the laboratory. Somewhat unnecessarily, seeing as the mere presence of a second voice already implied her arrival.</p><p>"I noticed," Lisa replied, entering a few last commands into her terminal before turning her attention to her guest. "All set. Now we can...good Lord, woman! What are you <em>wearing</em>?"</p><p>Rebecca Miller, street name "Becky", leaned against the entryway to her lab, posing in a manner that would almost certainly rile up the blood who bore even a passing interest in tall, leggy redheads. The fact that she was dressed in a leopard-print bikini-top and a <em>criminally </em>short loincloth skirt, which collectively only served to emphasize the more than generous genetic bounty with which she had been blessed, only exacerbated matters.</p><p>"Do you <em>like </em>it?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes coquettishly.</p><p>"Sadly, my preferences run differently." Lisa deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "But I'm sure any number of hormone stricken-cretins would find you quite tantalizing."</p><p>"Thank you," Becky said cheerfully as she straightened up. She took on a more eager expression. "Speaking of which..."</p><p>"I believe Lincoln is occupied," Lisa interjected, waggling one finger at the older girl. "And I brought you here to <em>work</em>, not to show off for my distressingly dense sibling."</p><p>"I can do both." Becky protested, pouting as she flounced over to Lisa's station.</p><p>"Not on <em>my </em>dime." Lisa corrected her, gesturing to a nearby chair she'd set up just for the occasion. As Becky seated herself, her skirt flipped upward, demonstrating quite handily that calling the girl "underclothed" would be a severe understatement.</p><p>"I was <em>hoping</em> you'd be dressed a little more...hygienically." She grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "I suspect I'll regret asking this, but <em>why </em>are you wearing <em>that?</em>"</p><p>"I'm going to a costume party later," Becky responded, crossing one leg over the other. "Wasn't sure I'd have time to go home and change after this."</p><p>"Dressed as?"</p><p>"Sort of a...I dunno, a sexy cavegirl? Costume stores aren't exactly well-stocked this time of year, I went with what I could scrounge up."</p><p>"I applaud your commitment to the role," Lisa said, sourly, turning her attention back to her terminal. "Small mercy that you wore shoes, at least. And I suppose it's better than you wearing that thing here solely for Lincoln's benefit."</p><p>"Weeeeeeell, a little from Column A, a little from Column B."</p><p>"For the love of Science, woman!" Lisa groaned, slapping one hand on her forehead. "Just tell the boy you're interested already!"</p><p>To her surprise, the redhead, normally brimming with self-confidence, shrank down in her seat just a bit. "I'd...prefer to know that he's actually interested before I did something <em>that </em>drastic."</p><p>"'Drastic', she says," Lisa muttered, shaking her head. "Indeed. What boy would settle for a girl with curves that border on non-euclidean?"</p><p>"After all." She continued, glancing down at herself and frowning. "It's not like he's demonstrated any interest in the alternative."</p><p>"Lisa?"</p><p>"I'm fine!" Lisa snapped, locking eyes with the older girl. She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath.</p><p>"<em>You </em>are <em>fine." </em>She reminded herself, cursing her impatience for the umpteenth time. She was, after all, a literal child. There would come a day when her body's maturity matched that of her mind, and if her mother and eldest siblings were any indication, Lincoln would find her <em>very </em>hard to ignore. Girls like Becky would come and go, Lisa merely needed to bide her time. And if it turned out that nature had failed her, she was more than confident that <em>science </em>would find a way...</p><p>"Science," Lisa muttered, shaking her head. "Right."</p><p>"Now then." She said, typing one final command into her terminal with a dramatic flourish. "Let us begin the test!"</p><hr/><p>"Oh...kay." Said Becky, nodding at the still theatrically posed scientist. "You know, I just realized that you still haven't told me what this test involves."</p><p>"Because <em>that</em> information is on a need-to-know basis."</p><p>Becky adopted a puzzled frown. "Does the tester—"</p><p>"Subject. Test <em>subject</em>."</p><p>"...Right." Becky nodded again, the movement slightly more rigid this time. "Does the test subject not need to know?"</p><p>"You did not." Said Lisa as she reached towards a nearby cluster of buttons and switches. "Until..."</p><p>
  <em>WHAM</em>
</p><p>Becky started in surprise as the doors to the lab slammed shut. Followed by a second set of doors. Followed by an iron grating that snapped into place, a compact but <em>cohesive </em>laser grid, and finally one last set of doors.</p><p>"...Now." Concluded Lisa. Becky looked to the younger girl, then jerked her head towards the now very well secured entryway.</p><p>"That's just standard procedure," Lisa replied to the unasked question. "You'd be surprised how often Leni manages to find her way in here at the least opportune times."</p><p>"...Yeah, that tracks." Becky agreed after a moment of consideration. "So, what am I doing?"</p><p>"Nothing invasive, I assure you." Said Lisa. Before Becky could point out the peculiar phrasing, the young scientist slid out of her chair and began making her way towards the far end of the lab. Mounted on an otherwise innocuous wall, near the ground where it could be accessed by the diminutive scientist, was a small, but very sciencey-looking panel. Placing both of her palms atop the panel with her fingers spread wide, Lisa leaned forward and stared straight ahead. A moment later, two tiny lasers shot out, one going into each of her eyes. After several seconds, the light show ceased, and the machine let out a very pleasant sounding <em>Ding</em>. Lisa then straightened up, removed her hands from the device, and then spat on the panel. Only then did the segment of the wall that panel had been mounted on swing forward, revealing a small, hidden compartment.</p><p>"One can't be too careful," Lisa remarked, before leaning forward once more, the top part of her body disappearing into the new opening. When she emerged a few moments later, she was now clutching a small briefcase in her hands.</p><p>"Pretty snazzy." Becky opined, her lips quirking upward in a small smile. "But I don't think it'll go very well with my current <em>ensemble</em>."</p><p>"Humorous." Said Lisa, as she returned to her seat. "Naturally, the item in question is <em>within</em> the briefcase."</p><p>Lisa set the briefcase down on her station and grabbed two opposing corners of the container, clutching them tightly with her tiny fists. Several moments passed, and with the audible sound of air escaping, the briefcase began to slowly open. Curious, Becky tried to get a better view, but the Loud girl had deliberately positioned the case so that the lid would block her view upon opening.</p><p>"Are you familiar with S.T.A.R. Labs?" Lisa asked as she reached into a drawer and produced a pair of surgical gloves. She pulled them on and checked their fit before peering into the case, delicately manipulating its contents just outside Becky's view.</p><p>"Nnnnooo?" Becky replied. "Should I have?"</p><p>"I don't see why you would. But I'm trying to be more sociable, and it is my understanding that the polite thing to do in this case is to entertain the idea, however unlikely, that you might."</p><p>"Well, you're doing great." Becky gave the younger girl a thumbs up, trying not to let her bemusement show.</p><p>"Thank you." Lisa paused her work to give Becky a slight nod of acknowledgment before returning to the case. Which, from the way Lisa had positioned herself, seemed to be a lot deeper than it appeared to be.</p><p>"The Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories," Lisa continued. "Hence the whimsical acronym. They're ostensibly an extremely prestigious scientific organization."</p><p>"You don't sound very convinced."</p><p>Again, Lisa paused her work to address Becky, this time with a rare smile on her face. "They've been trying to recruit me for some time now, and without much success, I might add."</p><p>"Is their work not up to your standards?"</p><p>"That, and they have a fairly draconian policy regarding mid-day naps, which are essential to my process." Unsure as to how serious the science-minded girl was being, Becky settled for nodding noncomittally.</p><p>"Even so," Lisa continued. "I have a number of respectable colleagues in their employ, and on occasion, they choose to dabble in things that manage to rouse even my interest."</p><p>"That's...nice. So where do I fit in?"</p><p>"This case." Lisa gently patted the briefcase exterior for emphasis. "Is one of several sent to me by said colleagues. They contain a number of interesting specimens and oddities that S.T.A.R. has obtained, but failed to elicit any meaningful research from."</p><p>"And they want you to...what, poke around and see if you can figure out what they do?"</p><p>"Essentially." Lisa nodded in agreement. "Though I'd like to think my process is a <em>bit </em>more involved than that. Regardless, I've asked you here to aid me in testing this particular item."</p><p>From the depths of the case, Lisa produced a small box made of some sort of see-through, plastic-like material. Becky leaned over, expecting to see something weird or fantastic.</p><p>"Is that...a necklace?" She asked, her brows furrowing in puzzlement. Within the container lay what appeared to be a small, leather cord, adorned with a number of sharp teeth, presumably those of an animal. It didn't look like a scientific curiosity. If anything it looked like it should be in a museum, as part of an exhibit dedicated to some variety of indigenous people.</p><p>"Yes. At least, that's what my peers seem to have concluded." Lisa turned the box so Becky could read the label on the top. "DC-WW-9.1: 'Teeth Necklace'", it read.</p><p>"Not a very creative bunch, are they?" Becky chuckled.</p><p>"It wouldn't <em>appear</em> so. However, while my colleagues have proven utterly incapable of discerning <em>what</em>, if <em>anything </em>this particular sample actually does, they are utterly convinced that it is some variety of magical artifac."</p><p>"That sounds a little far-fetched." Becky agreed. "But, there <em>has </em>been an uptick in fantastical happenings around here. What with all the robots and aliens that have been showing up, not to mention those superheroes who keep getting into fights with them—"</p><p>"Balderdash." Lisa scoffed. "There's a world of difference between observable and discernable metahuman phenomena, and 'magic'."</p><p>"What about Clarke's Third Law?"</p><p>"As such." Lisa continued as if Becky hadn't spoken. "I have taken it upon myself to find fact, where my colleagues have been satisfied with fiction. And after subjecting this sample to an extensive battery of tests, I believe I have discerned the most effective way to determine once and for all, what special properties it might possess."</p><p>"Which is?"</p><p>"Come a little closer and I'll show you."</p><p>Becky leaned over expectantly. Lisa undid the safety latch on the container, opened the box with a flick of her wrist. Becky opened her mouth, intending to ask if it was safe to so casually crack open a sealed sample like that, but before she could do so Lisa withdrew the necklace, wrapped it around the older girl's neck, and secured it with an expertly tied knot.</p><p>"There," Lisa said, smiling in satisfaction. "The testing begins now."</p><p>"L-Lisa!" Becky sputtered, glancing down at the curio that now adorned her collarbone.</p><p>"Experimentation is part of the scientific process, Rebecca."</p><p>"But isn't it the <em>last part</em>?"</p><p>"It is." Lisa agreed. "I have already determined that when it is confined to a small box, the necklace does nothing. Seeing what it does when it's attached to a teenage girl seems like the next logical step."</p><p>"<em>You</em>—" Becky cut herself off, one-finger raised with the intention of berating the scientist, as the odd bit of jewelry around her neck began to vibrate, humming softly as it did so. She peered down at the now jittering necklace, unsure if she should leave it be, or tear it off her neck and throw it across the room. Much to her surprise, however, the necklace clamped downward, pressing itself against her exposed skin. Then, much to her amazement, the necklace began to sink, receding downward into her body, passing through her skin as it was made of water. In a matter of moments, it was completely submerged, not even a blemish on her skin to indicate it was there to begin with. Becky looked to Lisa uncertain how to react.</p><p>"You see?" Lisa laughed, as she turned to her terminal and began typing furiously. "We're already learning!"</p><hr/><p>Sometime later, Becky exited the bunker, jumping slightly as the door loudly sealed itself behind her. She gave the imposing structure one last look before giving her head a little shake and starting for her car.</p><p>Nothing unusual had happened, other than that one <em>really weird thing</em>. But Lisa had spent the following hours testing her extensively, and as far as the younger girl could discern, there had been no adverse side effects from having a mystical(?) necklace bury itself inside her body. Per the Loud girl's diagnosis, Becky was just as healthy as she ever as. Though she had been asked to make a follow-up visit in a few days, just as a precaution.</p><p>Becky felt...uneasy and annoyed. Which she'd felt were perfectly understandable under the circumstances. When she'd agreed to this, she assumed it would be to test makeup, or a new dietary supplement or something. Starring in <em>that </em>little creepshow hadn't even been a remote possibility in her mind. And worst of all, she hadn't even gotten to show Lincoln her costume!</p><p>By the time Becky had reached her car, she was beginning to feel a little more positive about the situation. Yes, watching some variety of ancient artifact invade her body had been...disturbing, to say the least, but Lisa was a professional. If she thought Becky was fine, then clearly, there wasn't anything to worry about. Plus, she was getting paid double for the inconvenience of coming back for that follow-up visit. And who knows, maybe Lincoln would be around then...</p><p>Feeling a little more cheerful now, Becky opened the driver's side door, slid into her seat...and instantly regretted it. Becky was a tall girl, and while that had a lot of perks her inability to afford a vehicle more accommodating of her dimensions meant that squeezing into her car was just a part of life. Even so, it felt like there was even <em>less </em>leg room than usual. And...was the roof always so...low?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Big Storm - Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Liiiiiiiiiinky!"</p><p>Lincoln's eyes snapped open, and his gaze began to dart around the living room as panic <em>immediately </em>began setting in. <em>That </em>was the distressingly recognizable voice of Leni Loud, whom he would normally be delighted to see. However...</p><p>"Oh, here you...are?"</p><p>As the beautiful blonde stepped into the room, her voice pitched upward, suggesting confusion. This wasn't out of the ordinary, Leni regularly found puzzlement in the mundane. It was something that Lincoln found very charming about her. His second eldest sister would never be described as "book smart", but she didn't need to be. Leni was genuine and warm, sincere and welcoming. And while her innocent and unassuming nature tended to result in her being stonewalled by issues with very simple solutions, that she would inevitably overlook, she never allowed herself to be frustrated or deterred in the face of those <em>extremely </em>localized obstacles.</p><p>On this particular occasion, however, the fashionista's confusion likely stemmed from the fact that she'd walked in on Lincoln playing the role of the rope in a discrete, but very fervent game of tug of war. After a week of diligently defending the city, Lincoln had felt that Lynn and Lucy were entitled to some R&amp;R. So, with <em>surprisingly </em>little convincing, the trio had sat down to watch some tv together. It had started innocently enough, Lincoln situated between the two sisters, the three siblings basking in their shared closeness and camaraderie. It was hard to say exactly <em>when</em> things had started going downhill. He'd remembered Lynn putting her arm around his shoulder, and responding in kind, pulling her close. He'd remembered Lucy leaning her head against his chest, and he'd acknowledged her by resting his own atop her's, planting a chaste kiss on the younger girl's raven locks, much to her delight. Then...he was pretty sure Lynn had started massaging his thigh, which he'd learned long ago was her code for "I need you in the other room, preferably without these scratchy jeans." But he wasn't certain if that was before, or <em>after </em>Lucy had tried to shimmy her way into his lap. Regardless, the two attempts at amorousness had met and mixed about as well as oil and water, and <em>now </em>Lincoln found himself betwixt two angry Loud sisters, each trying to pull him free of the other.</p><p>...so yeah. He didn't blame Leni at all, given what she'd walked in on.</p><p>Lincoln squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, listening as the sounds of the living room faded away, save for those of Lynn and Lucy quietly jostling for possession of his person. Questions about his current predicament could only lead to bad things. So it was his hope that if he didn't acknowledge her, Leni might simply write him off as being already occupied. Or, even better, assume that Lynn and Lucy were fighting over some kind of Lincoln doll, like the ones that had gained sentience and escaped from Lisa's lab not too long ago. Or <em>maybe</em>—</p><p>"Hi, guys!"</p><p>Well, so much for that. Letting out a quiet grunt of frustration, Lincoln opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Leni's beaming smile. Though, strangely enough, it seemed a <em>little </em>more rigid than usual...</p><p>"What're you guys going?" Leni asked, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as she ran her gaze over the trio of Louds.</p><p>"C-Competing!" Lynn shouted, causing Lincoln to wince, both at the sudden explosion of volume and the sheer lameness of the response. Apparently, this wasn't lost upon the athlete, as she turned to her siblings and gave them an apologetic shrug.</p><p>"...Yes." Lucy agreed, after several moments of silence. "We're...competing."</p><p>"For what?" Leni asked innocently.</p><p>Three pairs of eyes met and silently conferred.</p><p>"It's...a sitting still contest?" Lynn ventured. Shooting her cohorts a sideways glance. "First one to let go of Stinkoln loses."</p><p>That...didn't make any sense.</p><p>"Huh." Leni mused, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "That doesn't make any sense."</p><p>Wait, what?</p><p>"What does that prove?" Leni continued. "It's not hard to hug Linky, he's totes huggable. Shouldn't a competition prove that one of you is better than the other at something that's, like, actually hard to do?"</p><p>Another beat of silence.</p><p>"Like what?" Lucy asked, sounding oddly intrigued.</p><p>"Dunno," Leni replied, shrugging. "Maybe you guys could race or something? Then one of you would clearly be better than the other, and you'd get all those thingies. Bragging lefts."</p><p>"Bragging <em>rights</em>, Leni." Lincoln gently interjected.</p><p>"But isn't your <em>right</em> my <em>left</em>?" Leni queried, holding her hands up to her face. "Or did I get those mixed up again?"</p><p>"I..." Lincoln trailed off and shut his mouth. He genuinely wasn't sure how to respond to that. He then noticed that Lynn and Lucy were now staring intently at one another.</p><p>"First one around the world?" Lynn whispered.</p><p>"You're on." Came Lucy's immediate reply. In unison, the two girls released their hold on Lincoln and made a dash for the backyard.</p><p>"Guys, wait!" Lincoln called after them—</p><p>
  <em>WHAM!</em>
</p><p>But they paid him no heed, the back door slamming shut to announce their departure. He groaned quietly to himself as he heard the telltale sound of lightning striking in the distance, and sank down into the couch. Well, there was no helping it now, he'd just have to hope that they'd remember to show some restraint while they were out in the world. But on the plus side, at least Leni had bought him a short reprieve.</p><p>This sentiment was quickly abandoned as Leni promptly plopped down next to him and pulled him close.</p><p>"Now it's <em>Leni</em> time!" The older girl cheerfully announced as she pulled him close.</p>
<hr/><p>"W-what's up, Leni?" Asked Lincoln, his words slightly muffled by the older girl's expansive bosom. Clutched as he was in Leni's grip, Lincoln's mobility was severely hindered, but he gently tried to pivot his lower body away from his big sister without drawing too much attention to his actions. Leni was an <em>extremely</em> pretty girl, and seemingly took great delight in rubbing those pretty bits of her's all over her little brother. This wasn't something that had ever bothered Lincoln in the past, Leni being very <em>physical </em>in her affections was just part of who she was. But recent events, namely the romantic developments between him and his now super-powered sisters, had removed the mental block that had previously prevented him from becoming aroused by the antics of his sisters, and Leni's very physical, very <em>enthusiastic</em> affections were doing all kinds of things to his hormone ridden-body. Having to explain to sweet, innocent Leni why <em>certain </em>parts of him were paying more attention to her than others, was a conversation he most <em>definitely </em>did not want to have. So it seemed like the path of least resistance would be to just quietly reposition himself and hope that Leni didn't get curious about the sudden tightness of his jeans.</p><p>"I <em>miss</em> you!" The elder girl shouted, giving Lincoln an extra tight squeeze for emphasis. Lincoln winced at the sudden rush of pleasure and pain, genuinely bewildered that after regularly being manhandled by girls with <em>actual</em> super strength, Leni's hugs could still affect him so. He found himself wondering if Leni would even <em>need </em>the Living Lightning if she ever fancied a career as a superhero.</p><p>"I've been around!" Lincoln protested, desperately trying to keep his airway unobstructed by all the Leni that now surrounded him.</p><p>"No, you haven't! You're always off somewhere with Lynn!"</p><p>"Well, I—"</p><p>"Or Lucy!"</p><p>"Err—"</p><p>"Or Luna!"</p><p>"Or Sa—" Lincoln automatically began to add, only stopping himself when Leni's eyes narrowed. "Alright, point taken. How can I make it up to you?"</p><p>"Take a month-long trip to Paris with me," Leni replied, matter-of-factly. "We'll eat yummy food, see gorgeous fashions, and soak up <em>le ambiance</em>. Which I think is like ambiance, but fancy."</p><p>"That...actually does sound like fun." Lincoln conceded, nodding slowly. "But I'm pretty sure we can't afford that."</p><p>"Okay." Leni pressed on, undeterred. "Then sit here and watch tv with me." Lincoln waited, presuming more demands were forthcoming, but Leni simply sat there, smiling genially at him.</p><p>"That, I think I can do." He replied. "But I'm gonna need my arms back."</p><p>"Totes!" Leni released her hold on Lincoln and shimmied closer to the boy, sitting as close as she could without physically merging with him.</p><p>As Lincoln snatched up the remote and turned back to the tv, he froze. In passing, at the far edge of his vision, he could have <em>sworn</em> that for the briefest of moments, Leni's sweet, joyful smile had briefly curled upwards into a victorious smirk. He jerked his head back, trying to get a proper view, but all that was there was his big sister, smiling at him expectantly.</p><p>"<em>Did...did I just get played by Leni?</em>" He wondered as he turned his attention back to the tv, and started flipping channels, looking for something a little more appropriate for his new partner.</p><p>Five times he thumbed the remote before suddenly freezing up, and letting out a gurgled cry of surprise. <em>That</em>...was definitely not part of the regularly scheduled programming.</p>
<hr/><p>"Katherine Mulligan here with a very special report." Spake Royal Woods most unforgettable reporter, shooting quick glances over her shoulder as she addressed the camera. "I'm here in downtown Royal Woods, where a most <em>shocking </em>scene is unfolding. A...rampage?" The reporter's eyes crossed, confused, before she turned to the side, and began whispering to herself. Unfortunately for her, she'd apparently forgotten to turn off her mic.</p><p>"A <em>rampage</em>? Are you trying to make me look like an idiot? Who cares if it <em>sounds</em> better. There's this thing called <em>video </em>now, ever hear of it? People are <em>seeing </em>this thing in real-time! Because it's hardly a rampage, that's why!"</p><p>The scene behind the reporter looked like something out of a cheesy monster movie, the kind with rubber costumes, stilted acting, and gratuitous use of a theremin. Through the lens of the news camera, a towering figure loomed over the familiar cityscape, impossibly huge amid the normally imposing structures that dotted that section of the city.</p><p>It was the kind of thing that <em>should </em>have been ominous, dreadful even. A creature of monstrous size and strength terrorizing the hapless citizens of Royal Woods. And being there, at the scene itself, it must have been alarming. The large crowd of civilians, screaming in terror and running every which way, desperate to flee from the behemoth in their midst. However, from the outside looking in the situation seemed significantly less cliche. For one thing, the "monster" was barely moving, merely shuffling her ginormous feet in what was clearly an attempt to avoid playing out the very scene that seemed to be expected of her. For another...</p><p>"EXCUSE ME? EXCUSE ME COULD...COULD YOU PEOPLE STOP! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE STOP SCREAMING! I'M JUST TRYING TO GET THROUGH!"</p><p>...she was actually <em>pleading </em>with the crowd, though it was clear that her patience was wearing thin. Finally, was the fact that Lincoln very much <em>recognized </em>this particular creature. Those long legs, full breasts, and shapely hips whose veracity could not be questioned. These particular features were ones with which Lincoln was <em>intimately </em>familiar, though normally of a scale significantly less epic than that which they currently occupied.</p><p>"No, I'm <em>not </em>calling her that!" Katherine hissed, blissfully unaware of her still hot mic. "I don't <em>care </em>if your nephew thinks its cool! Because 'Giganta' isn't a real word, you stooge!"</p><p>"Oh...em...GOSH!" Leni squealed, causing Lincoln to leap out of his seat in surprise. He'd been so engrossed in his observations that he'd completely forgotten about the blonde's presence. "Linky, it's...it's..."</p><p>"Yes, Leni." Lincoln said, nodding gravely. "It's Becky."</p><p>"And she looks...AMAZING! That outfit is totes working for her!"</p><p>His eyes narrowing in annoyance, Lincoln nevertheless glanced back at the television <em>just </em>in time to see the red-headed titaness wobble forward unsteadily, causing her skirt to flap up just a <em>bit </em>further than it was probably intended to.</p><p>"You...might actually have a point there." He conceded, nodding his appreciation.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Big Storm - Part 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This is insane," Lincoln muttered, shaking his head at the television.</p><p>"Totes." Leni agreed, although Lincoln detected an odd hesitancy in her voice. Glancing her way, he could see the blonde frowning in puzzlement.</p><p>"We're talking about Becky." He added for clarification, long accustomed to Leni's tendency to veer away onto her own train of thought whilst in the middle of a conversation.</p><p>"Of course." She replied, nodding confidently. "You think I could pull off that look?"</p><p>"I...GEH!" An image of Leni dressed in that same skirt/bikini combo popped into his head, and Lincoln was forced to clamp one hand over his nose to stymy the deluge of blood he could feel rushing forth. Quick though his response had been, he could still feel a tiny trickle of the sanguine fluid trickle through the cracks in his fingers. Lincoln glanced Leni's way once more to see if she'd noticed, but the older girl's gaze was fixed on the TV.</p><p>"I was talking about her <em>size </em>problem." Lincoln continued, flicking away the small amount of spillage, and discretely wiping his hands on his genes.</p><p>"Oh, yes. Becky is <em>supes</em> tall." Leni agreed. "Sometimes it takes <em>forever </em>to find clothes in her size."</p><p>"Leni, I'm talking about—" Lincoln turned back to the tv and froze as the news feed cut once more to the giant redhead, now wobbling unsteadily and frantically windmilling her arms.</p><p>"WILL YOU IDIOTS CLEAR A PATH?" She thundered at the tiny crowd milling around in front of her. "I'M JUST TRYING TO GET THROUGH! BUT IF YOU ALL CAN'T FLEE IN THE SAME DIRECTION, I'M GONNA—EEP!"</p><p>Lincoln's heart lept up into his throat as the giantess began to topple over, the shadow of her titanic frame now looming <em>much </em>more threateningly over the crowd of bystanders. Partway through her fall, Becky pivoted <em>hard </em>on her foot that was still grounded, shifting her weight so that she was able to throw out her one remaining leg and arrest her fall by simply straddling the crowd. Unfortunately, the one remaining foot still had to go <em>somewhere</em>—</p><p>
  <em>CRASH</em>
</p><p>—and in this case, that somewhere was a small building off to the side of the crowd, now pulverized into rubble under the assault Becky's mighty tootsie.</p><p>"<em>That</em>," Lincoln concluded, shaking his head, slowly. "That's what I was talking about."</p><p>"Oh, Em, Gosh!" Leni squealed in horror, her hands clasped against her cheeks as the news camera swept over the casualty of Becky's titanic slip-up.</p><p>"It's doesn't look like she had much of a choice, Leni—"</p><p>"That was my <em>favorite</em> smoothy place!" Leni cried out, sobbing into her hands. "They had such delicious smoothies, Linky!"</p><p>"Ah," Lincoln replied, nodding woodenly. "Well, on the plus side, I'm pretty sure nobody was in there. It's Sunday, after all."</p><p>"But the <em>smoothies</em>!" Leni wailed, her whole body shaking with sadness as sobs wracked her shapely frame. Uncertain how to respond to his inconsolable sister, Lincoln leaned over and gently patted her on the back.</p><p>"There there." He said, trying to keep the incredulity out of his voice. Leni obviously felt very strongly about this, and the least he would do was play along. At least disaster seemed to have been averted, for the moment at least.</p><p>"This just in!" Announced Katherine Mulligan as the camera snapped its attention back to her. "In response to the monster's...' unprovoked show of aggression'? Seriously?" She craned her head, seemingly addressing someone off-camera. Katherine's eyes widened, and she held up one hand, seemingly in protest. However, something gave the reporter pause. A few moments later, she slowly lowered her hand and turned back towards the camera, a noticeable slump in her shoulders.</p><p>"My apologies." She said, clearing her throat. "As I was saying, due to the monster's unprovoked show of aggression, the city has made the decision to notify the federal government. We are told that the mayor expects that a military response will be forthcoming to...deal, with the threat."</p><p>"Spoke too soon." Lincoln groaned, slumping down in his seat.</p>
<hr/><p>"What are we going to do Linky? They're gonna attack Becky!"</p><p>Lincoln was beginning to get whiplash from how swiftly Leni's emotional state had been changing. But as he stared into her tearful, pleading eyes, his heart went out to her. Lincoln just couldn't stand to see his sisters cry. Even so...</p><p>"What do you mean <em>we</em>?" He asked, trying to remain nonchalant even as his eyes darted around nervously. Lousy guilty conscience! "You and I don't even have a car between us. How are we supposed to get downtown, and what are we supposed to do when we get there?"</p><p>"Well...I dunno." Leni shrugged. "You're the one who usually thinks up that stuff. You're the Linky With The Thinky, right?"</p><p>"I..." He hesitated. "Close enough, I guess."</p><p>"And it has to be us because our family gets involved in totes everything that happens in Royal Woods." Leni continued, adopting a thoughtful expression. "Well, now I guess there's also those super girls who started showing up. You know, there's the one that kinda looks like Ly—"</p><p>"We're going to do...something."</p><p>"Alright, alright!" Lincoln cut her off, desperate to prevent Leni from going down <em>that </em>particular road, no need to make things more complicated than they already were. "Alright. We're going to do...something."</p><p>Relief washed over Leni's face. She leaned over and pulled Lincoln into another hug, though this time surprisingly subdued compared to her usual bone-crushing fare.</p><p>"Thank you, Linky." She murmured, favoring him with a peck on the cheek and a grateful smile. Try as he might, Lincoln couldn't help but feel embarrassed at the gratitude radiating from the girl.</p><p>"What, just like that?" He asked, trying to keep his voice level. "I haven't even come up with a plan yet."</p><p>"No." Leni agreed, giving him another squeeze. "But you will. You always do."</p><p>Well, at least there wasn't any pressure. Still, it's not like he was without resources.</p><p>"Hey, Leni?" He asked, surveying the room to make sure they were still alone. It seemed the coast was clear. "Would you mind scooting over a bit? And maybe...uh, putting your fingers in your ears and humming or something for a bit?"</p><p>"Sure." She agreed with zero hesitation. The blonde promptly scooched to the far and of the couch, jammed her fingers in her ears, and began singing loudly to herself.</p><p>"<em>In the Loud House!</em> <em>In the Loud House—</em>"</p><p>Lincoln suffered a full-body wince as his sister's off-key singing filled the room. Apparently, Luna's musical talents weren't genetic. As he reached into his pocket to fish around for his phone, he made a mental note to share that tidbit with Lisa. The young scientist was always eager for any information, no matter how minute, that might help her puzzle out the...puzzle, that was their family.</p><p>After retrieving the device, Lincoln scrolled through his contacts until he <em>finally </em>found Lynn (cute idea to have 11 kids with L-names, Mom and Dad) and jammed the Call button a little harder than was absolutely necessary. True, at this point his own skills were largely limited to zapping things with lightning, which didn't seem like the kind of thing that would be particularly helpful in calming down and extracting the rampaging redhead, but the girls' own power sets had much more practical usage. He was pretty confident that if he could get Lynn back here, they could but their heads together and—</p><p>
  <em>BZZZZT!</em>
</p><p>Lincoln's heart began to sink as he heard that distressingly familiar buzzing noise. The sound of a phone set to vibrate. Slowly turning his head, Lincoln's gaze landed upon the culprit. Lynn's phone, there on the coffee table. God knows how many miles away from where ever Lynn and Lucy might be...</p>
<hr/><p>"Lynn, I may only have a fourth-grade education from a substandard public school system—"</p><p>"Go Roosters!"</p><p>"But I'm pretty sure we won't find Europe out here in the cold, unfeeling vacuum of space. Which, to be fair, I'm growing increasingly fond of."</p><p>"You're just saying that because I'm totally winning this race!"</p>
<hr/><p>And, of course, Lucy's black, bat-wing adorned phone was right next to it. Equally useless, and rendering both girls impossible to contact for the moment.</p><p>"Good thing I made backups." Lincoln muttered to himself, scrolling up to Luna's number. He discretely glanced Leni's way to make sure she was still occupied.</p><p>"<em>Trapped inside this tiny space! May sound bad but ain't the case, in the Loud Houuuuse!</em>" Yep, still singing. And getting way into that weird song of her's. Good, now he could give Luna a call...</p>
<hr/><p>"Ta-dah!" Sam announced, proudly throwing her arms wide to indicate the area around them. "Well? Do you <em>love </em>it?"</p><p>Luna scrutinized the room her girlfriend had dragged her to. "It...kinda looks like the music room at school, babe. Which, not gonna lie, I kinda suspected from the way you dragged me <em>to school</em>, on one of the few days where we don't have to be here."</p><p>"Obviously it's the music room." Sam grumbled, shaking her head in annoyance. "But I made it better! And specialer!"</p><p>"...How?" Luna queried, after another moment of trying to spot whatever it was she was supposed to be looking at.</p><p>"By making it super-duper soundproof!" Sam replied as if the answer should have been obvious. "I got some stuff from Lisa, and now its even more sound proof than before! We could scream our heads off in here, and people standing right outside would never hear us!"</p><p>That...actually did sound like it'd be pretty helpful.</p><p>"Right on, luv." Luna nodded appreciatively. "That's gonna be great for our rehearsals."</p><p>"Also that, yes," Sam said quickly, a cat-like smile spreading across her face. Then her expression grew contemplative. "Actually, Lisa said there might be some side effects. Something about interfering with cellular signals, or something?"</p><p>"That all? Don't see what harm that could cause."</p>
<hr/><p>"And Sam's is <em>also </em>going straight to voicemail," Lincoln grumbled, flinging his phone down. "What are the odds that my <em>entire team </em>would be out of action?"</p><p>"Something wrong, Linky?"</p><p>The pale-haired boy started in surprise at the sound of his sister's voice. Leni was looking at him, fingers held up to her ears, but no longer plugging them.</p><p>"I ran out of songs to sing." She said, apologetically, lowering her hands and folding them in her lap. "How's the plan going?"</p><p>"Not...as well as I'd hoped." Lincoln grudgingly admitted, and immediately regretting so. Red hot knives of guilt stabbed into his heart at the distraught look the older gave him, such was the power of a Sad Leni.</p><p>"Is...is there anything I can do?" Leni asked, pleading. "Becky needs our help, Linky!"</p><p>Lincoln shrugged, helplessly. "Not unless you can point me at someone qualified to be a superhero."</p><p>"How about Lynn?" Leni asked eagerly. "She's always saving <em>you </em>from stuff. Um, though I guess she sometimes...causes, that stuff. Oh, but she'd look great in a cape!"</p><p>"I don't think—" Lincoln began.</p><p>"And maybe...tights? No! A skirt!"</p><p>"Not <em>Lynn</em>." Lincoln cut her off. "Besides, she's not even around, remember?"</p><p>"Oh, right." Leni sunk down, her shoulders sagging dejectedly. "Well, I dunno, Linky. All I know is that I really want to help my friend. And I'd do <em>anything </em>to save her from those mean old army men."</p><p>Lincoln paused to consider the distraught fashionista. "Anything, huh?" He murmured to himself, a familiar electric thrill running through his body.</p><p>"Are you getting Thinky, Linky?" Leni asked, rapt at attention once more, the unmistakable sound of hope in her voice.</p><p>"I'm thinking," He said slowly. "That sometimes when life gives you lemons, you make Leniade."</p><p>"Oh." Said the blonde, her eyes crossing in confusion. "'Kay?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Big Storm - Part 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Leni, watch out for the—!"</p><p>"I see it, Linky." His sister gently chided him. Giving him a wink of reassurance, Leni Marvel rocketed forward, seafoam green streaks being left in her wake as she charged straight at an oncoming rooftop. As the distance closed, <em>dangerously </em>so from Lincoln's perspective, Leni pulled into a tight spiral and effortlessly weaved to the side, circumventing the obstacle with minimal movement, and almost no loss of forward momentum. In spite of nearly getting pancaked between a metaphorical rock, and a nowhere near soft enough Leni, Lincoln was impressed.</p><p>Something he'd found fascinating was the way the girls had taken to their new powers. Despite all being roughly equal in terms of their raw capabilities, each one had found themselves acclimated to a different aspect of the power granted to them by the Living Lightning. Lynn had acclimated to her incredible strength near instantaneously, quickly learning to exert the monstrous power she wielded with a surgeon's precision. For Lucy it had been the Wisdom of Solomon, being able to incorporate the boundless knowledge it granted so seamlessly that Lincoln could scarcely tell when she was using it. And Leni, to his surprise, turned out to be a <em>magnificent </em>flier.</p><p>"I still can't believe how good you are at this." Said Lincoln, shaking his head in wonderment as they quickly left the rooftop behind.</p><p>"It's just easy," Leni replied with a shrug, inadvertently pulling him tighter against her plush, feminine figure, which had only grown more lovely after being blessed by the Lightning's power. "It's not like driving a car. Cars are so big that it gets hard to remember like, how much car there is, you know? And there's so much stuff to keep track of when your driving. And you can't just<em> stop</em> driving to take figure it out, because then people start honking and yelling at you, and dad starts crying, and Lori's like—"</p><p>"Leni." Lincoln gently interrupted her.</p><p>"That's right." The older girl agreed. "She's like, 'Leni! That's not what the mirror's for!' And <em>I'm </em>like—"</p><p>"<em>Leni</em>." Lincoln repeated, a bit more emphatically this time. Thankfully, this time the blonde seemed to take the hint.</p><p>"Sorry. " The older girl tittered nervously. "Anyway, up here it's just me. I just move where I want to move. It's easy."</p><p>"Trust me, it's not." He corrected her, remembering some of Lynn's more disastrous attempts at flying. "You're just <em>really</em> good at this."</p><p>"Aw. Thank you, Linky." Leni cooed, nuzzling him affectionately. "I'm trying my best."</p><p>A beat of silence.</p><p>"Although..."</p><p>Lincoln's smile froze, just a bit. "<em>Yes</em>, Leni?"</p><p>"We were making <em>way </em>better time when I just flew <em>through </em>the buildings."</p><p>Lincoln resisted the urge to groan aloud. "Leni, we've been over this. You can't just smash through other people's buildings."</p><p>"But it's <em>fun</em>," Leni whined, pouting. "And it's <em>way </em>faster than flying around them. <em>And </em>when I fly through things, you hug me <em>really </em>tight, and it feels nice!"</p><p>"<em>Because it would only take one wrong angle for me to get pancaked</em>." Lincoln thought to himself. Rather than saying as much, he reached for Leni's arm and gave it an affectionate squeeze. "Look, Leni, I know we're trying to help Becky, but it's no good if we smash up the city in the process. That's not what heroes do."</p><p>"I guess." Leni nodded her reluctant agreement as she deftly maneuvered around another rooftop. "I just...think..."</p><p>As the skyline yielded to the sprawling city streets below, Leni trailed off mid-sentence, her flight speed abruptly reduced to a slow crawl.</p><p>"Wow." The blonde murmured, quiet awe evident in her voice. Given the situation, Lincoln found he couldn't blame her.</p><p>"Yeah." He said a moment later, swallowing loudly. "That's a <em>lot </em>of Becky."</p>
<hr/><p>It had been one thing to see Becky on tv. While Lincoln knew, academically, that the things he was seeing were actually happening, the medium removed the immediacy from the equation. It <em>may </em>have been real, but it was happening somewhere else, and in that respect, there was a degree of distancing that kept the situation from <em>feeling </em>as real as it might have.</p><p>Physically being in the titanic teen's presence did away with any such notions. This was <em>happening</em>, and...it wasn't looking good.</p><p>Towering over downtown, quite literally larger than life, Becky was a far sight from the disproportionately large image she'd been on television. Even at their current elevation, he and Leni were only about shoulder height to her. With Leni's costume as flashy as it was, it was likely that Becky would have had little trouble spotting the airborne siblings as they approached, had her attention not been otherwise occupied.</p><p>Around the giantess swarmed a veritable fleet of helicopters. Lincoln felt a brief trill of panic, worried that the military had managed to beat them to the punch. Upon closer inspection, however, he realized that these weren't military vehicles at all. Far from it, the logos printed on their sides identified the aircraft as news choppers, many from stations he didn't even recognize. And suddenly the situation seemed so much stupider. And yet, so much more...expected.</p><p>"GET OUT OF MY FACE, YOU STUPID BUGS!" The giantess thundered, swatting at the assembled aircraft. Fortunately, the response seemed to be more out of irritation than any actual desire to cause damage, and the vehicles in the most danger of being victimized by her giant hand easily darted out of the way of the oncoming appendage. "AND DON'T THINK I CAN'T SEE YOU, CHANNEL 63! STOP ANGLING SHOTS DOWN MY TOP!"</p><p>Sensationalist journalism in a nutshell. So very, very expected. Even so, for the moment at least, it <em>seemed </em>like the situation was about as stable as it was going to get...</p><p>"AAAARG!" Almost as if prompted by his thought process, Becky wrapped her arms around herself and let out a strangled cry of pain. So raw was her anguish, that Lincoln's heart immediately went out to the girl. He turned to Leni, intending to urge the older girl into bringing them closer, but apparently, her thoughts mirrored his own. Gone was her ditzy, affable Leni smile. This Leni looked resolute and determined to come to her friend's aid. She tucked Lincoln close to her body and angled herself, clearly intent on launching the duo forward, however...</p><p>"NOT...AGAIN!" Becky groaned, suddenly throwing her arms wide, and very narrowly missing a few helicopters that had been trying to maneuver around her. As she did so, her already gigantic body surged upward and outward, her enlarging limbs tearing apart the street she stood on and carelessly smashing into buildings that were unfortunate enough to be occupying space that was now being claimed by her new mass. After what seemed like an eternity, the process finally stopped, and Becky sagged forward, breathing heavily with her limbs hanging limply at her side. By Lincoln's best estimation, she was roughly half again the size she'd been only moments earlier.</p><p>"Correction." He said, clearing his throat. "<em>That</em><em>'s </em>a lot of Becky."</p><p>"Totes." Leni agreed, nodding numbly.</p>
<hr/><p>"LOOK WHAT YOU IDIOTS MADE ME DO!" The redhead roared, her eyes flashing with anger. She took one thunderous step forward and swiped <em>hard</em> at the cloud of helicopters that were now quickly trying to disperse in her wake. Unlike before, however, she immediately followed up the strike with another, and then a third, now punctuating her swings furious growls. The gravity of the situation quickly became apparent. Becky was no longer trying to simply shoo away her tormentors, <em>now </em>she was fighting back. Her movements were significantly more sluggish than they had been previously, suggesting that she was still adjusting to her new size, or perhaps still dealing with the trauma of her most recent growth, but that handicap would only last for so long. There weren't combat pilots she was dealing with, sooner or later Becky was going to get a hit in, and then she would find herself every bit the monster they believed her to be.</p><p>"Linky!" Leni urged. Lincoln winced in pain as the blonde squeezed him a <em>bit </em>too hard. "What do we do? She's gonna hurt someone if this keeps up!"</p><p>"I'm thinking." He muttered, trying to take stock of the situation. "It looks like they've finally taken the hint and are trying to get away. Problem is, Becky's <em>really </em>hard to get away from right now—"</p><p>"RAAAAAAAARG!"</p><p>"...and, a little single-minded at the moment." He added, gingerly touching his ear. Yeah, that was definitely popped now. That girl had a set of lungs on her.</p><p>"Maybe we could distract her," Leni suggested. "Get her to focus on something else long enough for those news people to fly away."</p><p>"A solid plan." Lincoln agreed, nodding his approval. "But <em>how</em>? She's the size of a building, and then some! What can we get that she'll even <em>notice</em> at this point? Let alone fixate on long enough for those helicopters to escape?"</p><p>The question was semi-rhetorical. Lincoln was largely thinking out loud, as he tended to do when he was brainstorming, he didn't seriously expect Leni to just pull a fully formed plan out of thin air. Still, it surprised him when several moments passed and he'd received no reply at all from the older girl.</p><p>"Leni?" He called out, squirming in his sister's grip, craning his head backward as he tried to see what was going on with her. As if sensing his intent, Leni flipped him around so he was looking directly at her. Lincoln opened his mouth, intending to voice his concern, but the words died on his lips. Leni was staring at him, eyes squinted, her lips pursed, appraising him with an intensity that he rarely saw from her. Lincoln wasn't afraid to admit that all that attention focused on <em>him</em> was just a tad bit unnerving.</p><p>"Everything okay, Leni?" He asked, desperately wishing she'd at least <em>blink</em>. Finally, the older girl responded.</p><p>"Yeah, Linky." She said, nodding slowly. "I think we do have something."</p><p>Before Lincoln could ask <em>what </em>that something might be, Leni took two fingers and poked them into the v-neck of his polo shirt.</p><p>"Just gotta make one quick adjustment first..."</p>
<hr/><p>Becky's world was pain and rage. Not necessarily in that order, and in rapidly varying amounts, but there was <em>consistently </em>a great deal of both. In the span of a few hours, she'd gone from a statuesque, but otherwise ordinary teenager to something out of a monster movie, and the experience had been terrifying, exhilarating, and then intensely frustrating, exactly in that order. Being forced to smash <em>through </em>the roof of her car while it was in motion because her stupid feet were suddenly too big to be taken off the accelerator had been a panicked and hasty decision and one that she almost immediately regretted in spite of the fact that she'd likely prevented a nasty car crash in doing so. Sorrow at seeing her precious vehicle crumbling around her had been tempered by the thrill of seeing her shapely frame effortlessly punching through her steel prison like so much paper. When she'd finally burst from her confinement, all eyes on her inhumanly large form and the literal <em>car-nage </em>she'd wrought, tearing the last remnants of the vehicle asunder with her bare hands and sending shards of metal and glass flying everywhere, Becky had found herself laughing in delight. At that moment, she'd felt powerful. And looking down upon the rapidly shrinking onlookers, unable to tear their eyes away from her, she'd felt <em>invincible</em>.</p><p>That feeling hadn't lasted for long. If the situation had stabilized there, Becky would have written off the whole experience as a net positive. But it hadn't.</p><p>At ten feet tall, Becky had been feeling pretty comfortable with her new stature, brushing off the car remains still clinging to her person as easily as one might brush off some errant dust. At twenty feet, she was feeling considerably less certain in herself. Simply moving about without causing property damage was becoming difficult, and the onlookers milling about her legs were starting to look distressingly frail. It was <em>some </em>consolation that her clothes were growing with her, but she quickly found herself wishing that she'd had the opportunity to change into <em>anything </em>other than her stupidly skimpy party costume before this whole debacle happened. Or at the very least, that she hadn't made the bone-headed decision to kick off her shoes before hopping into her car. And the situation had only continued to escalate from there, in every sense of the word.</p><p>The bigger she got, the more attention she drew, and the more attention she drew, the more anxious she felt about what exactly it was that was happening to her, and that anxiety only seemed to feed the process. Worse still, while she initially found the sensation of growing to be <em>extremely </em>enjoyable, there quickly came a point where each growth spurt was accompanied by searing pain, which seemed to increase in intensity the larger she grew. She'd been <em>trying </em>to get a grip on herself, trying to keep it under control, but people wouldn't just leave well enough alone.</p><p>The sheer amount of suffering brought on by that last growth spurt had left Becky dazed, her thoughts muddled by the ungodly amount of pain she'd just experienced. But through the fog that currently clouded her mind, there was one simple conclusion that she, even in her current state, was still able to grasp.</p><p>Those tiny, buzzing <em>things </em>had done this to her. And they needed to pay.</p><p>It wasn't long before a semblance of rationality tried to reassert itself, imploring Becky to stay her hand. Reminding her that these were <em>people</em>, after all, but she paid it no heed. She wanted to <em>smash </em>the tiny things, to grind them to dust between massive hands. To <em>teach </em>them the errors of their ways. She'd come close numerous times, but fury lent her purpose, not proficiency, and her now even larger body was infuriatingly slow to respond to her commands. <em>Finally, </em>it seemed her moment had come. The insects had erred, too many attempting to flee in the same direction at the same time, forcing them to waste time avoiding each other instead of her. While some had been lucky enough to be positioned in such a way that they could easily disperse from the swarm while using their fellows as cover, they were very much in the minority. Becky closed the distance, raising one massive paw, relishing in the opportunity to finally exact her vengeance.</p><p>And then, something stayed her hand. A scent on the breeze, a whiff of something...strangely familiar, and oddly pleasant. Despite her instincts urging her to continue the hunt, Becky instead began looking around, desperately trying to find the source of that strange, pleasing odor. It seemed <em>so </em>close, almost right on top of her. How could it continue to elude her so?</p><p>Then, she heard the voice.</p><p>"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeckyyyyyyyyyy!"</p><p>It was fainter than she was used to, but Becky was intimately familiar with the shrill, high-pitched squeal. She whirled around, now having a better idea of what she was looking for. And then, she finally found it.</p><p>A tiny figure floating near her breast, frantically waving something bright orange at her. Becky leaned down to get a better look, her eyes widening as recognition dawned upon her.</p><p>"Leni!" She gasped, finally identifying the undersized, smiling blonde girl. And there, held tightly in her hands was..."Lincoln!?"</p>
<hr/><p>"Becky!" Leni cried out joyfully, "You're normal again!"</p><p>She took a moment to consider her words. "Well, <em>mostly </em>normal, anyway."</p><p>"Leni, you're <em>flying </em>and wearing a cape." Becky deadpanned. Nevertheless, she felt the edges of her lips quirking up into a smile. "Which you are <em>totally</em> pulling off, by the way."</p><p>"Right?" Leni gave a demonstrative twirl, allowing the garment to flap dramatically in the wind before she returned to her original position. "It's totes perf! Can you believe Linky made it for me?" She asked, thrusting the young boy clutched in her hands towards Becky.</p><p>Which explained <em>nothing</em> about the flying. Also, fantastic of Leni to explicitly address the thing that Becky was <em>desperately </em>trying to avoid paying attention to.</p><p>It had been...difficult, for Becky to come to terms with the fact that she had a crush on a boy several years younger than her. She hadn't <em>intended</em>, for it to happen, it just sort of did. Leni was her best friend and Lincoln was that friend's brother. Given how close Leni was to her family, it was inevitable that Becky was going to meet and spend time with him. And that's all it was, initially. She'd pass Lincoln in the hall, or strike up a conversation with him while she was waiting for Leni for one thing or another. The two of them turned out to have quite a few common interests, which probably said more about Becky than it did Lincoln, but they quickly went from acquaintances to actual friends. It was nice to have someone to talk to about Ace Savvy comics, or the latest episode of ARGGH. It was nice to be able to have a conversation with a boy who spent the whole time looking her in the eye (when vantage permitted). And when Lincoln told her she looked pretty, it was nice to feel like the compliment came from a place of honesty, and not as a carefully calculated strategem to surgically separate her from her panties.</p><p>The attraction wasn't physical in nature, at least not on her end, she'd teased the white-haired boy enough times to know for a fact that <em>he </em>liked the way <em>she </em>looked. It was more ephemeral than that. Lincoln was an earnest, honest, and caring guy, and Becky enjoyed the way he made her feel when they were together. It was those qualities that had led Becky to find herself far more fond of the boy than she'd intended to be. And, after a long, thoughtful examination of the issue, it was those qualities that had convinced Becky that it <em>might </em>be worth seeing what kind of guy Lincoln grew into.</p><p>So it was <em>profoundly </em>embarrassing that even though Leni had been talking non-stop for several minutes now, Becky had found herself incapable of tearing her eyes away from the younger Loud, still being proffered by his older sister.</p><p>The Louds tended to be a good-looking bunch. Something from their mom's side of the family, she suspected. Lori and Leni had been certified heartbreakers for years now, and she had little doubt that Lincoln would be joining their ranks when he got older. At least, that <em>had </em>been her presumption, and one which she had been counting on. The sole Loud boy was quite charming in his own way as it stood, and with age reinforcing those charms with experience and certain...physical enhancements, she'd suspected that she would need those years to mentally prepare herself for the hormonal onslaught that a pubescent Lincoln Loud was almost certain to become. Apparently, she'd been even more right than she'd suspected.</p><p>Lincoln, still squirming in his sister's grasp, was decked out in his traditional Linconian garb; jeans, and an orange polo shirt. It was an ensemble that was...quaint, but one she was hoping he'd grow out of eventually. What differed from the norm, was that there was a large gash running straight down the middle of the garment, nearly splitting the shirt in two, transforming the polo shirt into something more closely resembling a vest. One look at his face was all it took to confirm that Lincoln was clearly uncomfortable with his state of dress, and it wasn't hard to see why. The tattered shirt left Lincoln's chest exposed to the world, which was very much off-brand for the boy. And that was quickly being proven a shame, because the view was <em>glorious</em>.</p><p>Becky had <em>seen</em> Lincoln shirtless before. Not in a weird way, just when he was modeling some of Leni's more esoteric fashion creations, or when Becky had accompanied the Louds to the pool, both public and that adorable inflatable affair they'd sometimes set up in the back yard. To say nothing of the boy's well-known preference for reading comics in his skivvies, which she'd walked in on more than once. On those occasions, Lincoln had possessed exactly the kind of doughy, pasty physique that she would have expected from someone who spent most of their time playing video games and reading comics, and more power to him for that. <em>This </em>was not that Lincoln.</p><p>"Chiseled" wasn't quite the proper word to describe what she was staring at, but it was in the right ballpark. There was a leanness to Lincoln that hadn't been there before, a definition that bespoke a physicality far beyond that which she'd come to know from the relatively sedentary Loud over the years. And, it was difficult to tell, given the massive size difference between the pair, but if she squinted, Becky was <em>fairly </em>certain she could see the makings of a six-pack on the clearly growing boy. She could vaguely recall Leni complaining emphatically about how Lincoln was frequently absent from the house these days, spending a lot of his free time out and about with Lynn. If <em>this </em>was the result, then she was all for it. Might even need to buy the sporty Loud a steak dinner as thanks for her efforts.</p><p>The sight...<em>stirred</em> something in her. She found herself desperately wanting to take her finger and gently rub it on the blushing boy, let her sense of touch fill in the details that her eyes were incapable of conveying. And, if it looked like he was enjoying himself, maybe start working her way lower and see where things went from there...</p><p>"Becky?"</p><p>Lincoln's voice cut through the haze of hormones that was clouding Becky's thoughts like a knife through butter. Upon coming to her senses, Becky noticed that she was a <em>lot </em>closer to Lincoln than she had been previously, the boy staring up at her with his eyes wide as saucers.</p><p>"Whatcha doin', Becky?" Lincoln asked, his tone surprisingly calm in light of his body language. Becky made to respond but then realized that Lincoln wasn't looking <em>directly </em>at her. Following the boy's line of sight, she realized that what he was actually staring at was her left hand. Which was in the process of reaching towards him, her thumb and index finger arranged as if preparing to deftly pick up something small and delicate.</p><p>"Oh...you know." She replied, trying to sound nonchalant. "Just...trying to work out this...hand cramp, I've got." She flexed her fingers and rotated her wrist a few times to demonstrate. Thankfully, before she could make things even <em>more </em>awkward, Leni intervened, tucking Lincoln protectively against her side with one arm, and flying up to Becky's eye level so she could address her directly.</p><p>"Becky!" Leni shouted, waving her free arm to draw the larger girl's attention. "You've gotta hurry up and get small again!"</p><p>Becky let out an involuntary sigh of frustration, immediately wincing when the impromptu blast of air very nearly knocked over the much smaller sibling pair.</p><p>"I'd <em>love </em>to, Leni." She growled, trying <em>very </em>hard to keep her voice level. "But whatever's happened to me didn't exactly come with an instruction manual!"</p><p>"Can't you just...not be big?" Asked the blonde, her usual brand of ditziness suddenly seeming a lot less endearing that it usually was.</p><p>"No, I <em>can't</em>, Leni!" Becky snapped. "And it's not like I haven't tried, but I have no idea what I'm doing here! And every time I <em>try</em> to do someTHI—AAAAARG"</p><p>Becky's eyes squeezed shut and she let out a gurgled cry of pain as agony coursed through her body, a sensation which was far too familiar to her by this point. The experience was mercifully brief, but when she was able to open her eyes once more, the world was noticeable tinier than it had been only moments prior.</p><p>"...That." She groaned, shaking her head in frustration. "<em>That</em> keeps happening."</p><p>"It's okay, Becky!" Leni's voice suddenly resounded right by her ear, causing Becky to start in surprise. And then immediately regret doing so, as the impromptu movement caused one of her legs to encounter an <em>extremely </em>short-lived bout of resistance. She couldn't even bring herself to look down and see what it was. At this size, anything she could <em>feel</em> herself destroying was going to be way too expensive to even <em>think</em> about replacing.</p><p>"What do you think, Linky?" Becky exerted as much control over herself as she could, and resisted the instinct to turn in the direction of the voice. At this point, moving only made like more difficult. Nothing broke when she stood still, so that seemed like the safest option. For now, at least.</p><p>"I'm thinking her emotional state is triggering the growth spurts." Came Lincoln's voice. An image of the pale-haired boy whispering sweet nothings into her ear forced its way to the front of her consciousness, and Becky immediately fled her cheeks begin to redden. Again, she fought to exert her willpower over her stupid, uncooperative body. Blushing simply wasn't an option at this point. Not just because she couldn't afford the distraction, but also because she was worried that it wouldn't stop at her cheeks, and she was showing off <em>way </em>too much skin to even entertain that possibility!</p><p>"Maybe if we can calm her down, she'll shrink back to normal." Lincoln continued, thankfully seeming oblivious to Becky's inner turmoil, in spite of the fact that her heart was pounding so hard that it <em>had </em>to be registering on local seismographs at this point.</p><p>"I-it's a good plan, Linc." Becky replied, haltingly. "But I'm not exactly in my happy place right now. K-kinda difficult to get a hold on this thing right now."</p><p>"Oh." Leni's chipper voice wafted into her ear. "I think I can fix that. Becky, hold out your hands!"</p><p>Becky waited a moment, expecting <em>some </em>kind of elaboration, but nothing seemed forthcoming. Still dubious, but not exactly having any better ideas, she slowly raised her hands, and flipped them around, palms held outward.</p><p>"Like this?" She asked, hesitantly.</p><p>"Totes." Leni assured her. "Now just hold them like that for a sec..."</p><p>To Becky's surprise, a Leni-colored streak rocketed into view and encircled her outstretched hands, forming a tight circuit around them. Becky felt her hands being pushed together and she surrendered to the movement, choosing to trust in her friend's judgment. Once they were touching, Becky's clasped hands jerked backwards and into her chest. Far, <em>far</em> harder than she was anticipating, to the point where Becky wobbled backwards, very nearly becoming unbalanced by the sudden movement.</p><p>"Leni!" She barked, looking around for the seafoam-green streak so she could issue a proper reprimand.</p><p>"Sorry." Came Leni's voice, once again at her ear. "Didn't mean to push so hard. Anyway, we're done now. Check it out!"</p><p>Becky's brow furrowed in puzzlement as she looked down at her hands. "What exactly did you...do?" That was when she saw it.</p><p>There, clasped between her enormous hands, pressed tightly into the literal valley that was now her cleavage, was an even tinier Lincoln Loud, now waving nervously at her.</p><p>"...Oh," Becky uttered, the urge to blush now intensifying by magnitudes.</p>
<hr/><p>"Leni?" Becky asked, inwardly groaning at how shrill her own voice sounded now. "What? And also, <em>why</em>?"</p><p>"It's my super amazing trick for dealing with anxiety." Leni crowed, sounding <em>extremely </em>satisfied with herself. "Whenever I'm really nervous about something, I find Linky and I hug him really tight, just like that. And then I feel totes better."</p><p>"But what if I <em>break</em> him?" Becky pleaded, unable to tear her gaze away from the tiny, incredibly looking frail boy currently being engulfed by her breasts.</p><p>"I trust you, Becky," Lincoln shouted. From her vantage, his voice was little more than a squeak, barely audible to her ears. Even so, he didn't <em>sound </em>like he trusted her all that much.</p><p>"Don't worry." Leni continued. "He gets like that. Don't worry about anything else, just focus on Linky, and breathing."</p><p>A beat of silence.</p><p>"And also, make sure he's breathing. He gets upset if he can't, and that makes everything way harder."</p><p>Unusual advice, to be sure. But she'd already allowed Lincoln to get to second base with her in the most unusual way possible, so its not like things could get any weirder. Taking a deep breath, Becky tried her best to ignore the sensations of the distressingly tiny world around her and focused solely on the boy clutched in her arms. Even smaller than he usually was, desperately trying to put on a brave face even though he was clearly unsettled by the <em>extremely </em>precarious position he was in. All it would take was one errant squeeze from her, and <em>pop</em>, no more Lincoln. A fact that he was certainly aware of. And still, even under those circumstances, he smiled. For <em>her </em>sake. And in spite of everything that had happened, Becky found herself returning the gesture. What could she say, the kid had a hell of a smile.</p><p>Becky let out a sharp gasp as a pleasant tingling began to suffuse her body. The sensation persisted for a while, nothing more than a feeling, for what seemed like the longest time. Then, <em>finally</em>, she felt it working. The tiny bundle of Loud in her arms suddenly just a <em>bit </em>larger than it had been. She mastered herself, closing her eyes, and focusing on that sensation. It seemed like an eternity, but finally, it happened again. And again. And then...it was like she was falling.</p><p>It was a strange feeling to plummet downward while being fully aware of the fact that your feet were firmly upon the ground, the wind rushing around your ears while no movement is actually taking place. In spite of her instincts urging her to do otherwise, Becky kept her eyes squeezed shut, unwilling to leave anything to chance, refusing to allow anything to interfere with the process. Finally, it stopped. For the first time in quite a while, Becky's world was completely still.</p><p>Hesitantly, Becky opened her eyes, still afraid of what she might see, but incapable of waiting any longer.</p><p>Downtown Royal Woods. Its streets torn and shattered. Its buildings crumbling, and in extreme states is disrepair. But it gladdened her heart to see that she was no longer looking down upon the scene. She was herself again, finally. Still dressed in that stupid leopard-print costume, but nevertheless at her original height once more. And there, still held tightly to her bosom, was a very relieved looking Lincoln Loud.</p><p>"You did it." He said, his voice hoarse. It occurred to her that he might have been screaming for the entirety of their trip down to the ground.</p><p>"Thanks to you." Said Becky, tightening her grip on the boy and nuzzling her face against his.</p><p>"C-come on." Lincoln protested, blushing brightly as he tried to wriggle out of her grasp. "I didn't do all that much!"</p><p>Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.</p><p>"You did <em>plenty</em>, Lincoln Loud." And to show that she meant it, Becky turned the boy's head so that he was looking her in the eyes, and after one last brief moment of indecision, darted forward, pressing her lips against his own.</p>
<hr/><p>"Becky!"</p><p>That cheerful greeting drew the redhead's attention to her aching, oxygen-deprived lungs. Even so, it was with great reluctance that she broke the kiss. She took a moment to admire the gasping, but otherwise delighted-looking boy in her arms, and briefly considered going back in for seconds. However, a flash of green out of the corner of her eye reminded her that the ruins of downtown <em>probably </em>weren't the best place to be working through her long-repressed romantic issues.</p><p>Looking to the sky, Becky saw a smiling Leni descending from on high, still clad in that odd-looking, but really snazzy superhero outfit of her's. <em>That </em>was something that was still going to need explaining.</p><p>"Leni." She greeted the girl, nodding in her direction.</p><p>
  <em>FWOOSH</em>
</p><p>A flash of green, and suddenly Becky found herself in one of Leni's trademark bear hugs. Which felt even <em>more </em>bone-shattering than it usually did. As she stood there, writhing in pain, trying not to cry out, it occurred to her that she'd never let go of Lincoln. Glancing down just a bit, poking out from betwixt her and Leni, was a small tuft of white hair. A few moments later, a hand managed to squirm its way out of the prison of female flesh and form itself into a thumbs-up position. Apparently Lincoln had managed to survive the impact. Finally, Leni loosened her grip, and Becky allowed herself to drift backward, though her momentum was quickly arrested. Trying to figure out why, she quickly realized it was because she was <em>still</em> firmly holding onto Lincoln. And from the other side, Leni was doing the same. She gave an experimental tug on the white-haired boy, but he remained firmly in Leni's grasp. Looking back to her friend, she could see that Leni was still smiling, though the other girl's eyes had noticeably narrowed.</p><p>"Sorry, you had to see that, Leni." Becky apologized, meeting the other girl's gaze. "I was just...you know, really grateful to Linc here. Wanted to show my appreciation."</p><p>"That's fine with me, Becky," Leni replied. "If Linky's happy, then I'm happy. And I could tell that Linky was <em>really</em> happy."</p><p>Becky's eyes began to drift downward, almost of their own accord, but she forced herself to keep her gaze locked with Leni. "You...wait, really?"</p><p>"Of course." Leni nodded. "As long as you're okay with <em>sharing</em>."</p><p>Suddenly, Leni yanked Lincoln back towards her, very nearly pulling Becky along with him, and planted her own, very unsisterly kiss on the boy's lips. As she stood there, awkwardly holding one arm of her crush while he was being made out with by his <em>very </em>enthusiastic sister, Becky found herself wishing she could be a little more surprised by the situation. But she wasn't. Leni had always been fond of her brother, after all.</p><p>Finally, Leni released her hold on Lincoln's lips, and the boy fell limp, looking for all the world like he'd had the life drained from him.</p><p>"Wow." He croaked, struggling to sit up, but seemingly lacking the strength to do so. Smirking to herself, Becky stepped forward and gave him a hand up, surreptitiously reasserting her claim on the boy as she did so.</p><p>"I didn't warrant a 'wow'?" She asked playfully.</p><p>"Y-you did." Lincoln quickly replied. "Honest. But oxygen was a factor."</p><p>"I'll try to be more mindful of that in the future." Becky giggled, reaching out with one arm and pulling both Louds into a side hug. Leni apparently approved, as she joined the press of bodies with gusto.</p><p>"You...uh, you sure you want in on this?" Lincoln asked. "My...situation has been...complicated lately."</p><p>He glanced Leni's way, and reddened slightly. "That's actually a brand new development if you can believe it."</p><p>"I don't think it's as new as you think." Becky corrected him. "But when you say <em>complicated</em>, well..."</p><p>She took a quick breath and focused. A moment later, her body surged outward and then abruptly stopped. She glanced down as the now awestruck Leni, now about half her current height, and swept both Leni and her even littler brother up into her arms.</p><p>"I think I'm equipped to handle 'complicated', now." She chuckled, leaning down and planting a kiss on the boy's cheek.</p><p>She briefly toyed with the idea of going further but froze as the telltale sound of an emergency siren wafted in on the breeze.</p><p>"Except for <em>that</em>." She corrected herself, glancing around nervously. "That's probably the wrong kind of complicated."</p><p>"Agreed." Said Lincoln, glancing Leni's way. "Leni? I think this is a job for you."</p><p>"Sure thing Linky!" The blonde nodded. She shuffled around so that she now had one arm wrapped around Lincoln, and the other around as much of Becky's midsection as she could manage. Becky made to ask her what, exactly she was planning, but then—</p><p>"Up, up, and away!"</p><p>Her heart lept up into her throat as she quickly found herself rocketing up into the sky once more. And this time, without the benefit of having her feet firmly planted on the ground.</p><p>"Leni!" She shrieked as the city below them rapidly vanished. "At least let me shrink back down first!"</p>
<hr/><p>Lisa Loud sat back in her chair as she suddenly as the news feed being broadcast into her lab suddenly lost all relevancy to her. She'd been watching the situation downtown unfold with great interest. It wasn't often that the scientist found herself blindsided like this, and here it had happened <em>twice </em>in a single day. First, that the little bauble she'd agreed to examine at her colleague's behest, purely in the interest of being able to call in that favor at a later date, had turned out to actually have some sort of otherworldly properties. And second, that her older brother appeared to have some connection with the rise in metahuman activity that Royal Woods had been experiencing as of late. Fascinating developments on both fronts, and ones which Lisa would need to continue observing going forward. A shame that her only data thus far came solely from what she'd been able to ascertain from the news media's reporting of the event, but she hadn't had the foresight to put her own surveillance measures into place to keep tabs on Becky. An oversight on her part, and one which she did not intend to repeat.</p><p>In fact, it occurred to her that she <em>could </em>take steps to correct that oversight right here and now. After all, it wasn't like Becky was her <em>only </em>test subject. Perhaps it was time to check in on her other errant project.</p><p>"Computer." She said aloud. "Initiate surveillance of subject DC-SG-252. Street name, Carol Pingrey."</p>
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